{"id":18609,"date":"2021-12-20T14:07:37","date_gmt":"2021-12-20T19:07:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cubesmart.com\/blog\/?p=18609"},"modified":"2024-04-19T15:08:54","modified_gmt":"2024-04-19T19:08:54","slug":"cubesmart-donates-a-storage-unit-for-a-good-cause","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.cubesmart.dev\/blog\/news\/cubesmart-donates-a-storage-unit-for-a-good-cause\/","title":{"rendered":"A Kindness Activist and CubeSmart Find Each Other Just in Time for The Giving Season"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Kindness Activist, Susan Thompson-Gaines, and CubeSmart make a great team.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n


Maybe it\u2019s this time of year. Maybe it\u2019s because CubeSmart\u2019s mission is all about serving others with Genuine Care<\/em>. But when CubeSmart heard about the work of \u201cKindness Activist\u201d Susan Thompson-Gaines, we connected to help her make space for a good cause. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Kindness Activist is Born<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Susan spreads joy and generosity throughout her community. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Susan, an Arlington, Virginia resident, and founder of Kindness Activist, started her mission in 2016 with simple goal in mind, to spread kindness. In the last 5 years her mission has evolved in ways she couldn’t have imagined. But each year she continues a tradition that started it all, her annual Kindness Yard Sale. Neighbors donate gently used goods and shoppers pay whatever they can (or not at all), and all money raised goes to support people in need or spread joy through random acts of kindness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year alone the yard sale earned over $12,000, all of which will go toward small, but meaningful acts that positively impact people in her community. In a recent CBS News feature<\/a> Susan talked about the positive impact her fund has had on her community and on her. \u201cIt\u2019s made me, overall, a happier person,\u201d she gushed during the feature. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019s used\nfunds to throw parties for seniors with dementia, buy flowers for graves of\nfallen Veterans, and make donut runs to local hospitals as a treat for nurses\nworking long hours. Just this month, she bought a local teenager a dream dress\nand accessories for her homecoming dance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Mission With Space to Grow<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due to lack of storage, Susan has typically only been able to collect donations a month before her Kindness Yard Sale. After national news coverage broke, she was especially short on space as donations kept rolling in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the Kindness Activist blog<\/a>, she writes, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cI wanted to have a storage unit for quite some time but never felt I could justify using donations for the expense.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

But her friend and fellow Kindness Activist, Stephanie, took a chance that turned into a game changer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She reached\nout to CubeSmart and shared Susan\u2019s story with Director of Internal\nCommunications and Engagement, Karen Noonan, and District Manager Mike Jones,\nand the rest is history!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Room to grow! Susan checking out her new CubeSmart storage unit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At CubeSmart, we\u2019re proud to partner with Susan and Kindness Activist to provide the storage space she needs at no cost<\/strong>, so she can continue to spread kindness and joy. Her work and the positive impact she\u2019s had in her community is invaluable and at CubeSmart we\u2019re overjoyed to be a small part of that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Her Own Words – An Interview with Susan<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We recently spoke with Susan about her vision for Kindness Activist and how she feels about CubeSmart. Here\u2019s what she had to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How would you describe Kindness Activist? Is it an organization or a movement? <\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, I love that you asked if this is a movement. A movement is the dream. But like any movement, it takes organization and grassroots effort to get it going. I started Kindness Activist in 2016 from a simple idea \u2013 start actively seeking out kindness, then write about it and share it.  It could be kindness I did, received, witnessed, or heard about from someone. When kindness that is talked about openly it creates what I call \u201ckindness ripples\u201d. 

So, it started as a blog, just sharing stories, but then the annual Kindness Yard Sale was born to raise money to be able to spread more kindness. And now it has grown even more! In addition to the CBS News spot, the Washington Post<\/a> did a story about it, and People Magazine interviewed and included me in their recent Kindness Issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Kindness Activist was recently featured in several media outlets, including People Magazine.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Can you share a few of your favorite examples of the kindnesses you\u2019ve delivered? <\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the things I do are\nlittle, others are grand, but all are fun! The kindness I share isn\u2019t\nalways “need \u2013 based.\u201d You don\u2019t have to be “down and out” to\nbenefit from kindness \u2014 in fact we could all use more kindness in our lives.\nSome small examples of things I\u2019ve done are popping into the waiting room of a\nchildren’s therapy office to buy Starbucks coffee for stressed out parents.\nI\u2019ve paid for strangers\u2019 Christmas trees, groceries, and prescriptions, and\nbought lottery tickets and handed them out to people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of my favorite acts is keeping a free food pantry outside of our home. It functions like a Little Free Library, but instead of books, it has food inside for anyone who needs it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

It’s truly my belief that kindness doesn’t have to be random. Intentional acts of kindness are great because they give you time to think, plan, and execute. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Our teammate culture is all about serving people through Genuine Care. Is there anything specific you\u2019d like to share about your experience with CubeSmart?<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CubeSmart has been\namazing! I\u2019ve wanted a storage unit for a couple of years to hold donated\nitems for my annual Kindness Yard Sale. Through word of mouth, the Kindness\nYard Sale has spread, so more and more people are sending in\ndonations. It\u2019s fantastic but also overwhelming because I just have a\nsingle-family home and we were trying to not only live in it, but also collect\nand store donations for the sale in it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But CubeSmart stepped in and saved the day! Now, I have the perfect storage unit, in a beautiful new facility, to store Kindness Yard Sale items in year-round. Plus, we have use of a CubeSmart truck to collect large donation items instead of trying to squeeze them into our old Toyota Prius.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If someone is interested helping Kindness Activist, how can they get involved?<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow Kindness Activist<\/a> on Facebook to keep up with all our adventures. If you live\nin the Washington DC metro area and would like to donate items for the 2022\nKindness Yard Sale, you can email me at kindnessactivist@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maybe it\u2019s this time of year. Maybe it\u2019s because CubeSmart\u2019s mission is all about serving others with Genuine Care. But when CubeSmart heard about the work of \u201cKindness Activist\u201d Susan Thompson-Gaines, we connected to help her make space for a good cause. A Kindness Activist is Born Susan, an Arlington, Virginia resident, and founder of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1487,1605],"tags":[1956,463,1747],"class_list":["post-18609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-self-storage","tag-cubesmart-donates-storage-unit","tag-cubesmart-gives-back","tag-kindness-activist"],"yoast_head":"\r\nCubeSmart Donates a Storage Unit for a Good Cause | The Storage Space<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"CubeSmart heard about the work of Kindness Activist, Susan Thompson-Gaines and donated a storage unit for a great cause.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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