At Avera Creative, we strive to shine in our community, making the world a better place, one small gesture at a time.

Here are some ways you can shine your light and illuminate your community:

• Fill the parking meter for the next person.
• Return grocery cart to the corral or attendant.
• Hold the door open for someone, even if you have to wait for them to get to the door.
• Buy coffee for the person behind you at the coffee shop.
• Give money or gift cards to the person on the corner holding a sign.
• Help mothers with small children.
• Donate fresh food to your local food pantry.
• Volunteer your time and talents.
• Compliment your waiter, bank teller, store clerk, etc.
• Deliver fresh-baked cookies to city workers.
• Collect goods for a food bank.
• Bring flowers to work and share them with coworkers.
• Get together with your local garden club to make floral arrangements for senior centers, nursing homes, hospitals, police stations, or shut-ins.
• Adopt a student, checking in to see how things are going.
• Don't pass up an opportunity to give someone a hand.
• Merchants: donate a percentage of receipts for the week to a special cause.
• Treat your coworkers to homemade treats .
• Buy pizza for a random stranger.
• Sing to residents at a nursing home.
• Offer to babysit other parents' kids.
• Slip a friendly note under the windshield wipers of parked cars. It can be as simple as "Have a great day!"
• Organize a charity day at your work or church. Have poeple bring nonperishable food to donate at a local cause.
• Retailers: put out coffee and refreshments for your patrons.
• Give cards, plants or food to those grieving over the loss of a loved one.
• Compliment at least one person every day.
• Call or visit a person who is unable to get outside.
• Buy groceries for an elderly person.
• Treat your neighbors to homemade goodies.
• Offer a ride to someone who is unable to drive or doesn't have a car.
• Mow your neighbor’s lawn.
• Say something nice to everyone you meet today.
• Send treats to a school or day-care center.
• Dry off a rained-upon grocery cart.
• Smile.
• Teachers or childcare professionals: send a note home with kids, telling their parents something they did well.
• Adopt a pet.
• Volunteer to read to students in the classroom.
• Show your appreciation to those important people in our lives (teachers, secretaries, custodians, nurses, etc.) by writing them a thank you note and bringing them flowers or treats.
• Hug frequently.
• Tell your children you love them, and why.
• Write your parents or siblings for no other reason than to tell them why they're special.
• Encourage other people's good efforts.
• Write a thank-you note to an influential person in your life.
• Spend time helping others at a retirement or nursing home.
• Donate blood.
• Visit a local hospital, smiling, passing out treats, and engaging in friendly conversations with patients.
• Visit a nursing home resident who has no nearby family or friends.
• Give your neighbor a plant for their flowerbox or garden.
• Let someone else park in the nearby parking space.
• Leave a note and/or treat in your mailbox for your mail carrier.
• Organize a group to help clean graffiti from neighborhood walls or buildings.
• Compliment your boss or supervisor on his/her leadership.
• Compliment your employees on their work.
• Let your employees leave an hour or two early.
• Orchestrate a park cleanup in your community.
• Tell a bus or taxi driver how much you appreciate them.
• Give a pair of tickets to a local event to a random person.
• Generously tip your waiter/waitress.
• Drop off a plant or goodies to your local police or fire department.
• Buy the meal of the person behind you in the drive-through.
• If someone has helped you, write a note to their boss, letting them know how kind this person is.
• Send flowers to someone you don't normally get along with.
• Call an estranged family member.
• Offer to help fix the home of someone in need.
• Buy the movie ticket for the person behind you at the theater.
• Provide flowers to be delivered with meal delivery programs.
• Give toys and books to the children at a local shelter.
• Go out of yoru way to befriend a new student or colleague.
• Send a letter or small gift to someone you haven’t talked to in awhile.
• Offer to return a shopping cart to the store for someone loading a car.
• Invite someone new over for dinner.
• Anonymously give the fixings for a holiday meal to a family in need.
• Buy colorful stickers and pass them out to children you meet throughout the day.
• Write a thank you note and leave it with your tip. Make the card personal by specifying what it is you appreciate about your waiter/waitress.
• Offer to let the person in line behind you at the grocery store go ahead of you.
• Let drivers merge in front of you in traffic by giving them plenty of room. Wave them in courteously and with a smile.
• Buy cold drinks for the people next to you at a ball game.
• Help a child build a craft.
• Buy a bag of groceries for a homeless person.
• Frequently laugh out loud.
• Plant a tree in your community.
• If you see trash on the ground, pick it up and throw it away.
• Write former teachers, telling them how they've made a positive impact on your life.
• Send your friends gifts...anonymously .
• Hold a clothing drive for a local shelter.
• Buy books for a local school or day care.
• Secretly give a $20 bill to a person who is struggling financially.
• Treat an acquaintance to dinner.
• Offer to run errands for a friend in need.
• Offer your services at a discount for a week.
• Thank the person who bagged your groceries.
• Wish your banker, grocer, retailer, etc. a nice day. Be sure to look them in the eye and smile!
• Shovel your neighbor's driveway.
• Walk the dog of someone who is sick or homebound.
• Prepare meals for someone who just had surgery.
• Read to the blind.
• Put candy or treats out on your desk for others in the office to enjoy.
• Around the holidays, donate a Christmas tree to a family in need.
• Send coffeemakers, MP3 players, DVDs, etc. to those in the military serving overseas.
• Offer to clean someone's house.