9-15-17
72 people were given safe rides home the night of September 15th. But for dozen or so Kindness Team members on hand, and even more who contributed behind the scenes, last Friday was all about celebrating the night’s first ride, #OneontaRides’ 5,000th!
For past milestone rides (like 1K, 3K, & 4K), we celebrated by blessing the rider with a fun gift. But this is 5,000. A big milestone like this calls for a celebration on a larger scale--and that’s exactly what we did by treating one lucky rider, SUNY Oneonta freshman Julia Lombardi, to a giant party at the Kindness Station.
72 #SafeRides given tonight, including a special ride to Julia, #OneontaRides 5000th ride! Threw her a big surprise party. Story/video soon! pic.twitter.com/9XAEQzLghF— Redemption Movement (@RedemptionNY) September 16, 2017
Operation Ride #5K
Sometimes, it’s difficult to know exactly when we’ll give a milestone ride. But, seeing as we ended the previous week at 4,999 rides, we had a pretty good idea of when the big ride would happen. This allowed me set the Kindness Team into motion for what would be the biggest act of kindness we’ve ever done!Live music @ the #OneontaRides Kindness Station tonight? Wha the whaaaat!? & safe rides home tonight starting at 10 pm 📞 6074342564 pic.twitter.com/pujKZBLuEC— Redemption Movement (@RedemptionNY) September 15, 2017
The plan (Operation Ride #5K) was as follows:
- Casually pick up the rider like normal (while keeping a tight lid on the party plans so the person we give a ride to would be genuinely surprised).
- Then, notify every participating Kindness Team Member via group chat that we got the rider, along with what their name is.
- Then have everyone move into position.
- Next, I would leave with the lucky rider, drive for a couple of blocks, make up an excuse to go back to the Kindness Station, and circle back.
- Upon arrival, a live band would welcome the rider with a song and the team would be celebrating with sparklers, glow sticks, a confetti canon, and signs with the rider’s name on it.
- The rider would then receive a gift bag, and a representative from Domino’s would be on hand with a free pizza and a gift card for a free pizza party.
- Then we pile back into the car and take the happy rider home.
The Long Wait
The biggest challenge of the plan is that we didn’t know exactly when the first ride request was going to come in. This meant having everything ready to go and everybody in place as early as 10pm--for a ride that didn’t take place until midnight! The team of anxious volunteers made the most of their time in limbo by serving at the station. Plus, having such a large team on hand made for an enjoyable time of getting to know one another. |
| Mark Henke filled in like a pro. |
For awhile there, it was looking like the biggest part of the festivities, the live band, wasn’t going to happen, due to scheduling conflicts with their show that was taking place at The Black Oak Tavern (one block away). No sooner did I get bummed out about this and random musicians started showing up at the Kindness Station. It only took a little convincing to talk them into grabbing an instrument and filling in.
Thankfully, the musicians had no problem learning the song we had lined up, “Slow Ride” by Foghat, and changing the lyrics to “Free Ride.”
Having the extra help at the station also allowed for some great conversations to take place. Plus, even though we didn’t tell the downtown crowds exactly what we were up to with the instruments at the Kindness Station, it nevertheless drew a curious crowd that made sure to stick around to see the big surprise.
We also had an bonus band show up at the Kindness Station and play a song for the crowd that remained after we took the 5,000th rider home. Our old friends in Lila Ignite just completed their set at the Black Oak Tavern and stopped by the station to hang out and witness the 5,000th ride. Lila Ignite joined in the festivities with a tambourine and singing background vocals, and when “The Free Ride Band” was done, they took over and treated the crowd to a song.
Highlights from the rest of the night include:
In addition to Domino’s giving the 5,000th rider a free pizza party and a gift certificate, they provided another pizza party for the downtown bar crowd at closing time.
We had enough volunteers that we could take out a third car, which allowed for Tammy Miller to drive the Kindness Wagon so I could take my personal car (with the kids’ car seats now removed). Tammy is a mom extraordinaire/teacher at Lighthouse Christian Academy, and she was serving that night with her teenage daughter, Montanna. Tammy turned out to be a pro at driving, and I think that having a compassionate mother serve in this capacity was a treat for the students she took home.
One couple that we’ve consistently given rides to all last year, Mike and Jill, approached the station for a ride. Although, there was some tension between the two and they weren’t their happy selves. Jill was wearing a sash and celebrating her 19th birthday and she mentioned to me how her and Mike were having a fight. I gave Jill a bag of candy I had at the station and wished her a happy birthday, and I did my best to talk with her and Mike about their relationship on the ride home and help them out. There wasn’t anything I could say to erase the hurt feelings between them, but I did get some smiles out of them and encouraged them to focus on the happier times.
Not soon after, I had two male students in the car with me and we all spotted a young female student stumbling pretty badly at the corner of Main and Chestnut. I asked if the students would be so kind as to ask from their car window if the girl could use a ride home. One of them, unaware of the nuances involved in such a proposition, did so by yelling to the girl, “Hey, you’re f**ked up! Get a ride.” Understandably, the girl replied with “f***k you.” I immediately remedied the situation by pulling over, getting out, and approaching the girl on foot.
She was with her friend who turned out to be her sister. They were both very intoxicated. The girl who was stumbling the worse was wearing Red Jug Pub devil horns from celebrating her birthday. I introduced myself to the sister and she immediately took me up on the ride offer. We both helped her sister into the car and gave her a window seat, just in case. Since I was close to the Kindness Station and the Domino’s pizza party just took place, I managed to swing by for some pizza which I gave to all four passengers. They couldn’t believe their luck, getting a free ride and free pizza. Everybody in the car was overwhelmed with kindness.
During the whole ride, both sisters were having a difficult time. Eventually, I had to pull over so the one girl could lean out the car and vomit. I tended to her by holding her hair, patting her on the back, and reassuring her that she’ll be okay. Her sister was unable to provide this kind comfort because she was about ready to vomit herself.
As I was comforting the intoxicated birthday girl, I looked down to see that my new shoes were covered in vomit. I was certainly annoyed, but that’s the price one pays for helping people in their time of desperate need. While the the girl was vomiting, two SUNY Oneonta police officers stopped and checked in on us. They both seemed appreciative of what I was trying to do. Eventually, the girl had nothing left in her stomach to throw up so I helped clean her up with some paper towels, shut the car door, and rushed up to Hillside Commons. I then dropped off the two sisters before the other one could lose her dinner. The girl who threw up told me how embarrassed she was, so I assured her that there’s nothing to be embarrassed about, and how the important thing is that we got her home safe.
Later that night after the Kindness Station was all packed away, I dropped off Rakesh and, as he was getting out of the car, he paused, looked back at me, and said, “I want you to know that I’m praying for that girl from last week (the one who Rakesh tried to keep from taking drugs). She’s on my heart and I have compassion for her.” I then went on my way and, sure enough, ten minutes later this same girl called me for a ride. I picked her up and, while taking her home, even told her about the cool coincidence of Rakesh praying for her. She was taken aback and kept asking me, “Why do you guys care for me?” I was able to tell her about God’s love for her, as well as address misconceptions about God that her guilt-driven religious background taught her. This was the 3rd week in a row we’ve ministered to this girl who we consider a good friend.
How long will it take for us to give another 5,000 rides? At the pace we’re going, it’ll happen much quicker than the 4 years it took to give the first 5,000 rides!
