A day for good deeds in Saratoga County

If a stranger buys you a cup of coffee for no reason this coming Monday, it may be more than a random act of kindness on the stranger’s part.

For that matter, if you feel like buying the next person in line coffee or thanking a West Milton naval trainee, it’s a day you’re encouraged to do it.

Across Saratoga County, Feb. 29 is being promoted by the county Chamber of Commerce as “Leap of Kindness Day,” when everyone should try to do something kind for someone else.

The chamber already has more than 60 businesses or organizations pitching in, in large and small ways, to do something for others, from collecting food donations to making decorations for nursing homes.

“There are literally thousands of people who will benefit in some way,” said chamber President Todd Shimkus.

The idea of using the extra day built into February every four years for acts of kindness was hatched here, though the concept has now spread like wildfire to business chambers in at least 16 states, Shimkus said.

“This is our baby,” Shimkus said. “The idea of doing something with the extra day in a leap year has been with me since I started working at chambers of commerce 20 years ago.”

The “leap of kindness” concept for what’s called Leap Day came from a chamber brainstorming session a few months ago, and then got talked up at the chamber’s annual dinner in January.

Participating businesses and organizations will be putting their own twist on it: making donations to local food pantries, dropping off baked goods for the enjoyment of medical and public safety workers, or passing out coffee coupons.

The list of activities on the Chamber of Commerce website is being updated constantly, Shimkus said, as the idea spreads.

Some of what’s going on, and these are just examples:

• The Ballston Spa Business and Professional Association is collecting white ankle socks at a couple of locations, to be donated to residents of the Saratoga Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Home in Ballston Spa.

“We like to help out wherever we can,” said Kelly Ostrander, manager of the Trustco Bank branch in Ballston Spa, which is collecting the socks, and where employees plan to deliver flowers and cookies to the nursing home.

• The Ballston Spa nursing home, meanwhile, will be bringing cookies to the local fire stations and emergency medical services.

Shimkus said he’s especially pleased that firefighters, medical responders, teachers and soldiers will be among the recipients.

“These are the people who whenever there’s a crisis, they jump,” he said.

Among things going on in Saratoga Springs:

• Roohan Realty will be collecting items for the Franklin Community Center and Operation Adopt-A-Soldier, and will also be hosting a dessert social for senior citizens at the Embury Apartments.

• The Hampton Inn and Suites, across the street from the city’s main fire station, will serve breakfast that day to the Saratoga Springs Fire Department.

• The Holiday Inn on Broadway, meanwhile, will offer a free meal to all military veterans who come in that day. Bow Tie Cinemas will host a “Rare Disease Day at the Movies,” with proceeds going to local foundations that support research in Menkes disease and other rare medical conditions.

Meanwhile, GlobalFoundries is inviting all of its 18,000 employees worldwide to do something kind for someone that day, and the 3,000 who work at Fab 8 in Malta are being encouraged to donate food for distribution to local food pantries.

Anybody, however, can leap into the spirit of the day.

“We’re charting organized acts of kindness, but we’re obviously encouraging random acts of kindness, too,” Shimkus said.

Suggestions can be found on the chamber website at www.saratoga.org, along with a list of social services and other organizations that would be glad to be on the receiving end of any help.

People can also keep track of events on social media at #leapofkindnessday.

The Saratoga County Board of Supervisors has officially declared Monday “Leap of Kindness Day” in the county.

Reach Gazette reporter Stephen Williams at 395-3086, [email protected] or @gazettesteve on Twitter.

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