The Power of Kindness
At RPS Solutions, we are incredibly thankful to have the opportunity to collaborate with our local communities and our clients to ensure we maintain a strong connection with those in our industry, and listen to what’s most important to our clients. With many of our clients partnering with us over many decades, we’ve been there to support one another as we’ve powered through recessions, oil crashes, oil booms, and most recently, the negative impacts the pandemic has had on all of us. At RPS, we know now, more than ever, that there are many things in life and in this industry that we cannot control – but there is one thing that we do have full control of – how we react and the actions we take to make a positive impact. Through these trying times, RPS has practiced kindness and offering grace internally and we share this philosophy with our clients and in our communities. One simple act of kindness can make a lasting impact not only on the person in need, but for what you may receive in return.
Inspired to Give Back
At RPS, we feel its important, to practice kindness – no matter how big or small the gesture. This past year, RPS was inspired and felt compelled to act and give back, as Covid directly impacted many of our staff members and our clients directly. We were thrilled to have learned about a handful of ways that RPS could give back to our community and spread the mission of kindness through partnerships with local non profit originations. Afterall, kindness is a habit of giving – of wanting to lift the many burdens others face on a daily basis, simply providing a shoulder to cry on, or merely offering a helping hand. Random acts of kindness are known to increase a person’s sense of happiness, and it helps us with strengthening our sense of community and belonging.
Since the pandemic, statistics show that as of July 2020, many adults are reporting specific negative impacts on their mental health and well-being, such as difficulty sleeping (36%) or eating (32%), increases in alcohol consumption or substance use (12%), and worsening chronic conditions (12%) due to the stressors of Covid. Many psychologists suggest that offering some form of compassion to others can not only boost our immune systems; but it can help reduce emotions such as depression, anxiety and anger.
While these statistics may not be surprising; what may come as a shock is that many people encounter obstacles when it comes to practicing kindness in their day to day lives. Obstacles such as frustration – because we tend to get thrown off balance when we do an act of kindness and our desires and needs aren’t met in return. Obstacles like fear – because as humans, it’s in our nature to default to our programmed defensiveness and self-protective instinct; and finally many have obstacles with their fear of judgement. The human mind can be a constant judging machine designed to ensure our own survival above others and unfortunately at times, we can also be our own worst critic and often unable to be kind to even ourselves.
It’s just like the airplane oxygen mask theory – “if you don’t put on your mask first, you wont be able to save anyone else.” So why are we “killing ourselves”, basically neglecting others and ourselves by denying giving or receiving the acts of kindness that we all could truly benefit from? There are clearly so many positive outcomes and health benefits of doing simple random acts of kindness – this is not the time to be afraid, or selfish. Now is the time to help others, especially those who cannot help themselves.
Non-Profit Organizations
Luckily, in our industry of safety in oil and gas; there are thousands of selfless individuals who do countless acts of random kindness and are making huge impacts across the industry in incredible ways. There are also many great nonprofit organizations such as Oilfield Helping Hands, Shale Energy Resources, and the Rig Riders Motorcycle club who make it their every day mission to spread kindness and help others by hosting large, successful events in the Permian Basin which attracts a large following and raises thousands of dollars to help fundraise and donate money to local non profits to help raise awareness of their respective missions.
With the many non profit organizations available in our communities, there are three organizations in particular that RPS Solutions has enjoyed being connected with over the past year: Shale Energy Resources, Oilfield Helping Hands – Permian Basin Chapter and Rig Riders Motorcycle Club. Their leadership skills in the community, their high integrity, full transparency with donations collected and given, along with the creative ways they create excitement and awareness to the oil and gas industry with their unique events, are just some of the reasons RPS will continue to support these organizations for years to come.
Shale Energy Resources
For example, Jeff and Miranda Kennedy, the founders of Shale Energy Resources have made it their mission to give back to their communities donating well over $125,000 in 2021 and over $350,000 since 2018. Their donations have helped The Bynum School, a school for special needs children, Oil Patch Kids, Oilfield Helping Hands, The American Association of Drilling Engineers, The Permian Pipeliner’s Association, Ace Scholarships & Opportunity Tribe just to name a few. Their events bring thousands of people together and in some cases, pulls people out of their comfort zones in a positive way all through promoting acts of kindness in local and surrounding areas.
In a recent interview with Co-Founder, Jeff Kennedy, he was kind enough to open up and share with me that their donation goal for 2022 is to reach over $200,000! With the Tee Off for the Bynum School and their Shale Energy Trade show booking up vendors at a rapid speed – I have no doubt in my mind they will be able to achieve this goal.
Oilfield Helping Hands
Another local nonprofit who are experts when it comes to acts of kindness is Oilfield Helping Hands – Permian Basin Chapter, also known as OHH. Their mission is the help oilfield families in financial crises through no fault of their own. In a recent interview with Katie Grimes, President of the OHH Permian Basin Chapter she mentions, “Our money raised was over $150,000 for 2021” and she shared an infographic that outlined where they have helped 6 recipients, 4 companies serviced, 5 single income family homes, 2 medical/injury and 4 other donations, totaling in over $26,300 in the Permian Basin!
Rig Riders Motorcycle Club
Finally, another local non profit that truly rallies around their mission are the Rig Riders Motorcycle lub – Midland Chapter. This non-profit organization was formed to bring together people employed in the oil & gas industry who share a common interest in motorcycles and charitable activities; to promote good fellowship and safe motorcycling; to develop better relations between the general public, the media, and riders of motorcycles; and to perform one or more charitable activities with it’s membership for the benefit of this community. In 2021, they accomplished raising over $35k to donate to OHH, donated over 20 bikes to underprivileged children for Christmas, held a toy drive which raised well over $1500 in toys to families in need. In addition to these contributions one of the most inspiring and impactful contributions the Rig Riders accomplished last year was helping a fellow Brother in need after a cancer diagnosis. The Rig Riders not only raised enough money to pay for medical bills, but were able to assist with paying for groceries for his family and they nurtured him back to heath.
While large non profit organizations are incredibly successful, after all; they are the subject matter experts when it comes to acts of kindness and helping others in need; we as a community cannot solely depend on them to continuously do all of the lifting. They heavily depend on local oil and gas companies to participate, and on their local sponsors to help accomplish their large goals. RPS Solutions is thrilled to be an active participant and sponsor in many of the successful events hosted by these local non profits and it has been an incredibly journey for us to be a part of something that is larger than us and plan to be a part of their missions for years to come.
All it takes is one small act of kindness to make a huge impact and get the good vibes going.
With all the negative effects of covid we have encountered as a whole, I challenge you to change your mindset and simply focus on all the good things in your life – the big and the small. When you are struggling with an overwhelming day, challenge yourself to do a random act if kindness – it just be the one thing that can boost your mood and make a positive impact on those around you.
It doesn’t matter how big or small your act of kindness is – all that matters is that you are kind. The moment we leave this earth, people are not going to remember how much money we had, or how expensive our clothes were, they’re going to remember the kindness you had in your heart and the impact you made on others and how you helped others while you were on this Earth.
In a world where there is so much to celebrate, there is a large population of people who cannot see past a simple obstacle in their life, that to you, could be so small, but in their lives, it’s the only thing they care about. Its time for us as a community to be better, to be kinder, to do more and lift other up in a positive way. The power of positivity can make a huge impact. It can be something as small as simply smiling at someone, opening a door for someone, taking 5 minutes of your time to write a recommendation online for a business or services that you really enjoyed could really turn someone’s day, even their life around – you really, never know! The small acts of kindness add up and some philosophers suggest that positive thoughts and actions bring positive results into a person’s life, while negative thoughts will continue to bring you negative outcomes – its called the law of attraction.
Today we celebrate all of those who have made it their mission to be kind, make impacts in others lives and to those who volunteer countless hours to grow awareness and support for their organizations. While your schedule, income level and other things may seem to be out of your control, causing you to not be able to sponsor or attend a local non profit events around your city, the one thing you do have control over is you and your actions. As we celebrate Random Acts of Kindness day, I challenge you to step out of your comfort zone, focus on the good, and be kind.
Afterall, in the end, only kindness matters.
