Man Wraps Up A Year Of Doing Acts Of Kindness
(CBS) -- They're often what we remember most each year: the nice things we did for other people. But few did more than a young Chicago father, determined to fill his year with random acts of kindness.
CBS 2's Roseanne Tellez caught up with Ryan Garcia, the last day of his mission.
Garcia has a wife, a baby girl, and 366 uplifting stories to tell, thanks to a New Year's Resolution he made for 2012 -- to perform random acts of kindness every day for a year.
He says his daughter was his inspiration.
"I wanted my resolution to make a positive impact in her life and to make the world more positive around her," Garcia says.
Garcia's first act: handing over a grocery store gift card to a Streetwise vendor. She was brought to tears, and Garcia was hooked.
Another time, he took a military veteran to a Northwestern basketball game.
As the months flew by, the good deeds piled up. And Northwestern journalism students began to document his journey.
Day 197, he joined a Project Hood walk to raise awareness about gun violence.
Day 208, he helped build a playground at a Humboldt Park school.
Day 214, he made dinner for his wife. She admits she was skeptical at the beginning.
"As the days were passing, I really knew he was sticking to it and that I could help him out and we could be successful," Lindsey Garcia says.
One of Ryan's favorite acts was taking a child with leukemia to a White Sox game to meet Curtis Granderson of the Yankees.
A memorable day, in a year filled with inspiration.
"It's not that hard to be kind," Ryan Garcia says.
Garcia's final act of the year? He's just announced that he and his wife are adopting a baby.
But he'd still like to keep doing acts of kindness and plans to do one in every state in the future.