Beginnigs: Part Two

In the spring of the new year, 2006, I created a not for profit organization called Civic Sport Group (CSG). This organization would be the vehicle for all our community building initiatives, as well as, any grant and research projects. We received a grant from the Communities in Action Fund that permitted us to partner with a local university to examine bullying in youth hockey and build a new coach education model that we called the Coaching Connection. I promised myself that I would have a 'tool' by the time the grant project was due to finish in the spring of 2007.

All winter, as I ran through slush and snow (running is my processing/thinking time), I sorted out the details: purpose, procedure, outcomes. The purpose was fairly simple, it had to encourage sportsmanship and community. The outcome was even simpler, personal development and community transformation. But the procedure eluded me....the awareness band phenomena had really come and gone - aside from a few key colours it was difficult to know what they were meant to support. I liked the concept of the awareness band despite it's ubiquitary nature, however I always felt like there was a piece missing to that puzzel. They were too passive. Then one afternoon while watching the Oprah show - yes, I love Oprah - it all clicked!

Her guest was a pastor who had created an awareness band for his congregation. He challenged his congreation to go 21 days (the amount of time it generally takes to develop a new 'habit')without complaining, and every time that you did complain you had to switch your band to the opposite wrist and start your 21 days over. Here was the missing piece to the awareness band puzzel that eluded me - an action, switching the bands from wrist to wrist. However, the more I thought about it the more frustrated I became because as an observer I could never know at which point in the 21 days anyone was at. If I met you on the street and saw the band on your right wrist, you could have switched it five minutes ago, or 20 days ago....so it was back into my thermal underwear, and reflective outerwear, as I tried to figure out how to modify this concept. I felt like there was something really big and exciting waiting to be discovered, I knew I was close. (I am aware that by over analyzing the procedure I was missing the point. And I definitely would have had to switch wrists!)

Please don't forget to go to our first post and leave a comment so you have the opportunity to win some dakbands!

Please go to our trak your dak page on our website http://www.deliberateactsofkindness.com/track/index.html and check out band #6997.