Our History
A small group of neighborhood moms who dedicated one night a month to their friendship was the seed of One Good Deed. Michelle Christensen’s passion for youth literacy led to their first project building little libraries. That first project took three months to complete, but they all walked away having a wonderful experience and a little library to share with their neighbors.
The next project started as a closet clean-out and Michelle finding nine pairs of magic gloves. She knew there were people in need that could use those gloves. She spread the word, put out donation boxes and donations started to flood in. As word spread, interest grew in participating in the event – so much so that a tour bus was needed to transport everyone. This event has become known as Scarf-Bombing. The event happens annually, in January, when the need for warm, winter items is at its highest. One Good Deed volunteers go out to two Twin Cities parks and leave items out in the open for anyone in need. This event grows in numbers and reach every year and has become the signature event of One Good Deed.
Every month, One Good Deed has scheduled events that spread kindness, generate friendships and grow community. And at the end of every event, there is a group photo, a warm thank you and faces filled with smiles. One Good Deed epitomizes kindness, generosity and compassion and with action shows the next generation what kindness looks like and just how easy it is to spread.
There is no limit to kindness and the continued growth of One Good Deed is proof that it all starts from one small ripple of kindness.It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
If you want the full story about One Good Deed’s beginnings, please read more below.
Board of Directors
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Michelle Christensen
FOUNDER 2017
For as long as I can remember helping and caring for others has been a very important part of my life. My personal belief that there is goodness and kindness within every single person has offered me some incredibly heart-warming experiences, wonderful friends and an inner feeling of joy that literally envelopes me, from head to toe.
Being a lifelong volunteer has given me an amazing personal community and nurtured a sense of purpose, reminding me that there is something greater than myself. Making a difference for others, with others, is my daily goal and I want to share that experience with others.
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Brenda Hanson
PRESIDENT
I am a Wife, Mom, Realtor and One Good Deed Board Member. You will usually find me in my preferred behind the scenes role. I will be picking up and dropping off donations, hanging signs, walking around to be sure no one needs anything and supporting our Founder and Executive Director in whatever way possible. Email, forms, phone calls and paperwork are my specialty. Anything really that does not require a dress and heels is in my wheelhouse. Fun fact about me – I eat like a child. Grilled Cheese, pizza, mac and cheese, plain hamburgers. No dipping sauce please!
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Angie Ellis
SECRETARY
My experiences as a volunteer with One Good Deed have been overwhelmingly positive. I appreciate that there are a variety of events throughout the year which enables a nice balance for flexible participation levels. I initially came to do a single good deed in 2018 and proudly continue today. I quickly learned that a simple mission to help spread a ripple kindness with this fantastic community of caring people is time well spent.
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Marie Kopetzki
TREASURER
Being a volunteer with One Good Deed allows me to spread kindness and nurture my passion to make our community a better place. Witnessing the results of our good deeds is inspiring and also inspires me to be a better human. I love seeing our youth volunteers participate and how much they enjoy giving and spreading kindness. The friendships I have made along the way have enriched my life and are the icing on top.
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Rachelle Rood
IT DIRECTOR
In both my personal and professional life, I am a passionate activist and pride myself on being a servant-leader. I have spent my career advocating for organizational and product quality with a goal to help organizations embrace agility in their culture and foster a healthy, productive, team-first mindset.
I am passionate about spreading kindness to all beings and volunteer for animals rescues here in the Twin Cities. I view technology simply as a tool – a tool that when used to its fullest effect can inspire and catalyze change. My goal is to help One Good Deed leverage technology to boost kindness and empower us to help others.
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Hayley White
COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR
I started with One Good Deed before it even had a name. I was at the very first scarf bombing event, and have assisted Michelle Christensen at numerous One Good Deed events. I met Michelle back in 2013 at Valleyfair riding roller coasters for charity. We rode together in the front row and have been riding roller coasters across the United States since then. I work with Michelle on One Good Deed events and can be seen as a team leader during scarf bombing, helping pass out paint supplies for free little libraries, picking trash during Earth Day events, among other things. I am always excited to spread that ripple of kindness!
Testimonials
Affiliations
The Full Story
A small group of neighborhood moms, whose kids all grew up together, didn’t want to lose their connection and friendship once their oldest kids graduated high school — they just had so much fun together. They decided to dedicate one night a month to their friendship. They would get together and do crafts, rotating houses each month. The host would pick the craft and provide all the materials needed while the others would bring snacks to share.
Michelle Christensen hosted the first friendship-night and the first craft they did was to build the little libraries, now one of OGD’s signature events. Youth and literacy have always been important to Michelle and being she has a career in construction, she had the means to get the materials, access to carpenters and knew she could get the paint donated. That one-night project took three-months to complete! By the time they were done they each had their own little library.
The group of friends continued meeting and the next time it was Michelle’s turn to pick, scarf bombing is what emerged, another of OGD’s signature events. It was September and Michelle had just cleaned out her closets — she had found 9 pairs of magic gloves and thought to herself “who needs 9 pairs of magic gloves?” People that don’t have gloves need a pair of magic gloves, she thought to herself. She put boxes in her lunchroom for donations, asked people to spread the word and then one day, one of her contacts reached out and asked what else she needed besides mittens – that’s when the cash donations started. Michelle reached out to Kohl’s and Target to find out if she could get bulk pricing. She emailed out a flyer and pretty soon money came flooding in.
Next, Michelle needed to figure out how she was going to ensure that the people that needed the items knew they were there for the taking. She called a graphics company that her company uses for large printing projects and asked if they could make her some cardstock tags. She thought she could attach the tags to the items with a message letting people know they were available for the taking. In a couple of hours, she had 20,000 tags. She bought some pins and started attaching the tags to the items.
As people were donating items for her cause, there was clear interest that some wanted to participate in the scarf-bombing activity. Michelle opened it up to anyone who asked about it, letting them know there is always room for her “love bugs” to come along and she will never say no to spreading kindness. She then realized she would need to figure out transportation as it was quickly becoming a very largely attended event. There was no way that 35 people were going to be able to logistically find parking in Minneapolis by Loring Park and in St. Paul by Kellogg Park, so she needed to rent a bus.
In the spirit of transparency, since Michelle was using money people had donated to her for items, she sent the proposal to all those she had emailed the flyer about the need to rent a bus for the event. She explained that 100% of the money was going to go toward the activity, but felt she needed to share how she was going to use their hard-earned, donated funds. She apologized if that wasn’t how they expected their donation to be used, but she wanted to include everyone that wanted to be involved. Within an hour of that email’s distribution, she received a copy of the paid receipt from an anonymous donor in her email. Michelle sat at her desk with tears flooding down her face in appreciation.
And the rest is history…every year since, Michelle has collected items to the point of overflowing in her personal garage, we load up a huge bus and a large group of people go out on a Sunday in early January and share kindness across the two parks.
We’ve witnessed a lady walking across Loring Park with one of the blankets we had just put out, watching others come up from the homeless encampments and taking stuff not only for them, but for those who are unable to leave the encampment, we’ve handed out muffins out the bus windows to people we come in contact with – every year, Michelle meets someone at the parks and learns their story. It is life-shifting for us all.
And at the end of every single One Good Deed event, there is a group photo, a warm thank you and faces filled with smiles and hugs to go around. One Good Deed epitomizes kindness, generosity and compassion and with action shows the next generation what kindness looks like and just how easy it is to spread.
This is the story of where One Good Deed was born. There is no limit to kindness and the continued growth of One Good Deed is proof that it all starts from one small ripple of kindness.