MINISTER BECOMES KINDNESS COP DURING WEEK

Last week, the Rev. Jeffrey Sippy took his three young sons to buy work gloves for the city sanitation workers who carry away trash from their home.

Last year as part of Random Acts of Kindness, Aaron Sippy waited two hours to present each of the workers with a new pair of work gloves and a thank you for the work they do. Aaron, 3, and his brothers, Clayton, 5, and Jason, 1, decided those gloves must be worn out by now.

Jeffrey Sippy said the boys seem to be learning the lesson of kindness he hopes to teach. Practicing kindness is an attribute he wants very much to instill in his sons.

"I pray that as they grow and mature they too will understand, I need that person and I want them to know how important they are to me," Sippy said. "To give someone a pair of gloves is such a small expression of thanks. I'm almost embarrassed that my kindness is nothing in comparison of all that has been done for me."

So committed to teaching the lessons of kindness, Sippy became the "kindness cop" during last year's Random Acts of Kindness Week. He kept a watchful eye on the community for kind deeds and reported them to the newspaper. Like thousands of other good-deed doers in the community, Sippy is gearing up for another dose of kindness this year.

"There was some talk last year that these aren't random acts and are almost programmed," Sippy said. But kindness must start somewhere.

"We teach our children to write a thank-you note for a birthday gift in hopes that when the child is 20 years old, he would write the note without being reminded," Sippy said.

"It's my intention and hope that more and more of these activities are by nature and not a way to look for recognition," he said.

But recognition isn't bad. If a kind deed is appreciated and acknowledged, the person doing the kindness is more likely to do it again.

"It's so easy to look at things that are not so good, and the Scriptures say we should examine our errors and failures," Sippy said. "But we should also affirm one another for doing things that are Godlike and good. It's very natural for us to say, `What a beautiful day.' If we see someone doing beautiful things, we should say so just as naturally."

Like his sons, the congregation at Hanover Lutheran Church has taken Sippy's lesson to heart and is planning kindnesses during this week and throughout the year.

Church members have adopted flower beds at the church. On Saturday, church members wrapped Mother's Day gifts at Target. In July, they are planning a free car wash and this fall they plan to rake leaves.

"These are all done for no reason except to be kind," Sippy said. "We recognize that God is kind to us. He overlooks our sins and faults. He gave his son to die for us. Like Christ and by Christ we demonstrate our love in outward acts of kindness and goodness."