By Lisa Karstetter

As part of Yahoo!’s “You in?” program to spread random acts of kindness, we headed out on Christmas Eve to make a positive impact on the Quincy, Washington community. We handed out 50 – (16 piece) boxes of chicken and jojo’s plus a box of fresh baked cookies to those standing in line at the local food bank. Then we loaded back up at the store with more chicken and cookies and went to the labor camps where the real need is. Most of these are located 5-10 miles out of town. We went house to house (trailer to trailer). Two ladies started crying…and one hugged my husband and me over and over. It was very touching.

Then today the guys went out with another van full of food and delivered it to some other areas we couldn’t get to on Christmas Eve. We also took bags of stuff we were told that most request at the food bank. Bread, cereal, peanut butter and beans. So we gave them a box of chicken, jojo’s and a bag with other necessities in it.

What we were so surprised to see is that many don’t have transportation to even get to the food bank in town. I think that is why they were so touched. We are going to go out and do it again tomorrow and target another area.

Also while we were waiting for chicken at Akins Deli we randomly walked around the busy store and eyed people shopping that looked like they could use a little help (monetary wise). We notified the sales clerks to charge their groceries at checkout to our account and hand them a kindness card that encourages them to “pay it forward” by doing something nice for someone else. We weren’t around to see but I heard there were 6 really happy and grateful families.

The surprising part to this whole story is that when I went up for communion on Christmas Eve at our church, our pastor said to me, “Lisa, I saw firsthand the way you and your company touched someone’s life today. Thank you for doing that. God Bless you.” I went back to my seat wondering what he was talking about. After church he told me that he was witness to one of the store charges and could see what a truly unexpected gift it was for a family that he could see desperately needed it and it touched him as well.

I wish my children could have seen the woman cry over being given chicken, jojo’s and cookies. It would have given them perspective as to how well they have it and how sometimes it’s not what or how much you give……it’s just the act of caring about those less fortunate and wanting to make a small difference in other people’s lives.

This was a truly moving experience, and I’m so thankful to be able to participate in this You In? campaign. I have NEVER been more proud to work at Yahoo!

I’m so touched to see that these random acts of kindness really are spreading around the world. Nearly 300,000 people have already added their kind acts to the map at kindness.yahoo.com. To add yours or find more inspiration, check out kindness.yahoo.com.

As part of Yahoo’s “You In?” campaign (kindness.yahoo.com), a few of us from Yahoo’s corporate communications team decided to pay a surprise visit to one of our local charities that could use some support during these tough economic times.  And as pet owners with a soft spot for our four-legged friends, we decided that the SF SPCA would be a great beneficiary of a little bit of money, some fun blankets and pet toys courtesy of our friends at the Yahoo! company store and most importantly our love and attention to the serious issue of finding homes for the pets at the SF SPCA.

If you live in the Bay Area or have visited San Francisco during the holiday season, odds are that you have seen some of the cute dogs and cats in the windows of Macy’s in Union Square, all part of the SPCA’s holiday adoption drive. With hundreds of dogs and cats in need of a home living at the shelter at any given moment and a goal to find homes for more than 4000 animals each year, the SF SPCA has a herculean task that is undertaken by hundreds of staff and volunteers at their SF HQ, which includes Maddie’s Pet Adoption Center and the Leanne B. Roberts Animal Care Center.  You can meet some of our new friends here:

When we came by to drop off our gifts, we were greeted warmly by SF SPCA President Jan McHugh-Smith and amazing employees like Susannah Dunlap.  Jan and Susannah gave us an all-access tour of their amazing new facility that offers potential pet owners the chance to see the dogs and cats in condo-like settings.  All of the cats even have their own TV sets!

We were also able to see their state-of-the-art veterinary care facility, where animals from all over the Bay Area come to get checked out and get ready for adoption.  The shelter is a no-kill facility and is often a literal safe-haven for pets from other shelters that do not have space, including the apparent overabundance of chihuahuas.

While the SF SPCA website is a great place to see all of the animals available for adoption, you can always come down to see the pets in person.  And for those of you who are socially-networked, you can also follow them on Twitter and Facebook.  For a preview of some of the pets you can adopt, we’d like to introduce you to our new friend Curtis the Cat:

And as a bonus, our new friends at the SF SPCA have given us the opportunity to let our followers on Facebook and Twitter name a kitten that will be up for adoption soon–so follow us and help give Mr. Pickles a new name!

Please visit Yahoo’s You In? site to share your stories of kindness!

Happy Holidays!

Pamela Woon, Lucas Mast and Mariel Myers

Yahoo! Corporate Communications

How big is your ripple of happiness?

It doesn’t take a lot of money or time to make someone’s day.  Smiling at a stranger can be contagious.  Paying the toll fee for the car behind you may inspire them to pay it forward.  Picking up a $207 grocery bill at Trader Joe’s can turn into $23,000 in donations for the local food bank.

These heartwarming stories inspired us to launch Yahoo!’s “You In?” campaign this holiday season because we believe that one small act of kindness can create a ripple of generosity.

Help Yahoo! create a ripple of happiness around the world with random acts of kindness.  Update your online status (on Yahoo!, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter) to share what you’re doing to spread holiday joy at kindness.yahoo.com. Then encourage others to join you by asking “You in?”.  Yahoo! will use our network to share your good deeds with our community. We’ll also be doing our own acts of kindness inspired by your status updates.  Whether your act of kindness is buying someone’s groceries or getting warm coats to people in need, your actions will encourage others around the world to join in.

It’s your world. And it is what you make it.

How big will your ripple of happiness be?

You in?