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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.

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