One Million Acts of Kindness
Nine years ago on April 16th, thirty-two lives were violently taken at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia, a tragedy now remembered as the Virginia Tech shooting. The aftershock was unnerving. While family and friends of the victims grieved, the nation tried to grapple with this inconceivable act of murder. A memorial was arranged on the Virginia Tech campus drillfield. Parents, siblings, friends, and even those with no connections to the community made up just a fraction of the tens of thousands who visited the memorial following the massacre.
One of them was Bob Votruba.
Three days after the shooting, Votruba drove from Cleveland, Ohio to Blacksburg. He stayed for four days, witnessing firsthand the mourning and impact surrounding the shooting.
“My thought was how much hate and hurt would have to be in a person's heart to do such an act,” Votruba explained. “It was on my drive back home to Cleveland that I prayed for an answer. What could I do as an individual? The other end of the spectrum from all that hate and hurt is all that love and kindness. What came through me was having kindness as a lifelong goal.”
Votruba manifested his calling in a ten-year mission called One Million Acts of Kindness. According to Votruba, “this small, one man and his dog on a bus and a bicycle traveling the country is having a profound effect on many individuals across the world.” His blue bus, called the Blue Bird, stopped in Savannah last Friday as part of his visit to the United Way of the Coastal Empire.
Prior to April 16, 2007, Votruba was seeking something to pursue full-time for the rest of his life. After the Virginia Tech shooting, he realized he could do something just as impactful as an individual to counteract what another individual had done.
“It began as a 10 year dedication but honestly, there is no way I would ever stop,” Votruba said. “I will do this till my last breath with the hope in my heart that billions of people across the globe embrace kindness in their heart.”
With his trusty canine, Bogart, by his side, Votruba plans his travels anywhere from six months to a year in advance. In addition, Votruba also reaches out to various groups, organizations, and schools about potential programs and activities for those communities.
Though Votruba has been traveling for seven years now, he said he loves visiting Savannah for its people, lovely weather, history, and diverse mix of tourists and residents.
“It is also geographically desirable as I travel up and down the east coast of United States quite often,” Votruba said.
Votruba said his next stop is Virginia Tech and then north to Cleveland for a few weeks.
“I then head east through Sandy Hook for a week and then out to Long Island for two months before I start heading back down to Florida in the fall,” Votruba said. “I will be back through Savannah at that time.”
Of the many people Votruba and Bogart meet during their travels, it is the population’s youngest who inspire them the most.
“It is all about the children,” Votruba said. “It is amazing what some of the youngest of our population are doing to help others in need of comfort. Giving of themselves and giving of their time is commonplace to many.”
Bogart has been Votruba’s sidekick throughout his journey, and Votruba praised his four-legged companion’s ability to connect with both children and adults everywhere they travel.
“Bogart is the most amazing dog,” Votruba said. “He has an amazing connection with children and adults everywhere we travel. He is always ready for a new adventure, he loves traveling and he loves seeing people he knows when we come back to town we have visited previously. We are both very blessed to have found each other and to be on this mission together.”
In the seven years Votruba and Bogart have been traveling, they have experienced very few negative responses to their mission. Votruba believes this demonstrates the thirst of the goodness people desire in their lives.
“I know of dozens of adults who have gone on to give of their life volunteering full-time as retirement,” Votruba said. “It comes down to an individual choice of wanting to give of yourself, and sometimes it just takes a little nudge to get the ball rolling and set in place something that is amazing for both the volunteer and those receiving the benefit of an individual's actions.”
Explore and follow Votruba and Bogart’s mission to spread One Million Acts of Kindness by clicking here.
