Kindra

The interior of the store looks like this so they save money on the annoying shelf restocking. Products remain in their boxes until being removed by customers.  No unboxing and putting stuff on shelves, and constantly having to rearrange it. Also, the boxes make inventory a breeze as a sealed box has a defined number of items in it. 

Typical American grocery stores have shelves like this

Every item has to be unboxed and neatly stacked on the shelves. If they get messed up by the customers, everything has to be rearranged back to specific rigid order. When you have to verify the inventory, every item has to be removed from the shelves to be counted and put back. Aldi’s also do not have plastic bags. You can buy reusable bags or simply use the empty cardboard boxes that are available.

Last is the carts. Most grocery stores have their carts strewn across the parking lots, rolling around and hitting cars until a store employee is sent out to collect them, after being yelled at by the manager when they were told to do other tasks in the meantime. Aldi’s chains those carts together and you have to put a Quarter in to release it. When you are done, you plug the chain back in and get your Quarter back. If others are lazy, you can collect and return the loose carts and collect the Quarters. 

It stops this…

Then the employees have to do this

There are people who purposefully don't put the cart away.

Because they think they're "providing work for people".

I mean that the ‘gifts’ I had are useless

Reading books above my age isn’t a talent when I’m not eleven

Knowing big words isn’t a talent when I’m not a kid, it’s just growing up

Thing is, gifted children are not amazingly better than everyone else. Gifted brains just don’t work the same so they build their skills in a different order

Basically when you’re very young, most people brain learn social skills and how to interact with their peers, but gifted brains are already at the next step which is how to understand and interact with the world

That makes the stereotypical young children that are very good at math, always asking questions about how things work, very upset when they don’t know a thing

But the thing is, when everyone gets older, they’ve mastered most social skills and now turn towards understanding the world

But the gifted children have already mastered that part and are turning towards how to build social skills. Except there’s no one left to teach us about that! Because we’re late to that party

Long story short, at the end everyone, gifted or not, goes through all the necessary steps to make functioning adults, so the difference that was obvious as a child has disappeared

I mean, it seems pretty obvious when you put it like that, right?

But how many families, when an introvert sibling or child makes an effort to socialize,  snarkily say, “So, you’ve decided to join us”?

Or when someone does something they’ve had trouble doing, say, “Why can’t you do that all the time?” (Happened to me, too often.)

Or any sentence containing the word “finally”. 

If someone makes a step, a small step, in a direction you want to encourage, encourage it. Don’t complain about how it’s not enough. Don’t bring up previous stuff. Encourage it.

Having to explain to my brother that not everyone is his friend is not fun

Having to explain to my brother why people are mean to him even if he didn’t do anything is not fun

Having to explain to my brother why some people act like he is a baby is not fun

Watching my brother be bullied without him realizing is not fun

Watching my brother being taken advantage of is not fun

Watching my brother peacefully going along with everyones bullying and laughing while laughing along with them is not fun

Bullying disabled people is not fun

We have government agencies providing resources for this initiative and they are now considering ongoing financial support, but it is critical that we show that this project has strong public backing. All Donations Now Matched Until December 31st.

We have already raised $150K, half of our total goal. If our GoFundMe Campaign is successful, we can wrap up our fundraising by the end of the year and open Canada’s first Family Shelter for Abused Men and Children in 2018! ************************************************** Hello and welcome to the Canadian Centre for Men and Families. The Centre has become a place of hope and transformation for boys, men and fathers in our community who often come to us when no other support is available.  And now we and they need you.

Since we opened our doors, every day we get calls from men desperately searching for a safe haven from an abusive partner. Many of these callers are fathers with children and they have no place to go. Steve Dolk: The Impossible Situation for Abused Fathers. Watch the video athttps://youtu.be/Z0JUDSc4qbk 

Now imagine you and your child live each day in fear of violence, but no one believes you because you’re a man. That is the situation for thousands of fathers every year.  Although it may be hard to believe, Statistics Canada data and sociological research is clear: men suffer domestic abuse at rates comparable to women, yet their access to vital support services including crisis centres and emergency counselling is almost non-existent.

The critical missing piece are domestic abuse shelters for fathers and children. Single father families are the fastest growing family form in Canada. Yet while the caregiving role of dads quickly expands, fathers who are suffering violence in the home still have no safe place where they can escape with their children. If governments are reluctant to step up then it’s time for you and I to lead by example. That’s what an amazing team of philanthropists did when they donated $150,000 to build Toronto’s first Family Shelter for Abused Men and Children. That means we’re already half way to our goal. And now to help us get to the finish line, we have a backer who has stepped up to match your contributions - dollar for dollar - up until $50,000, only until December 31st. This could be the game changer we’ve been waiting for, but only if we each take the initiative.

In the last few years, shelters for abused men and children have begun to pop up in small towns in places like Arkansas and Texas, but if we’re successful here we will open the first shelter for abused men and children in any metropolitan municipality in North America. If we’re successful we can be the lifeline for so many families in desperate need of help. If we’re successful the effects will be felt far beyond Toronto for we will have sparked a critical change in the conversation around gender and victimization, and that means more support for all vulnerable families. This is is your chance to guarantee that success and to be a part of this landmark initiative.

The time has come for all of us to take a bold step. Your support is absolutely critical for us to capitalize on the foundation that has been built.   That’s why we are asking you to please make a gift at this time and to and work with us to bring the first shelter for abused men and children to Canada’s largest city. All donations receive a charity receipt, which means you could get up to 40% back in tax benefits. We are offering a variety of rewards for different levels of contribution. Please note that you will receive all rewards both at your level and at all levels below. Thank you so for your interest. We are eager to join forces with you on a special project that will greatly improve many lives.

2018 is going to be a good year

Today is the first ever Art Action Day. We’re partnering with a group called The Federation to encourage artists and activists to speak out with their art.

We gave you this prompt:

When they write the headlines and history books what do you want them to say? And #WhatWillYouDo to make it happen?

Now we want to share our own commitments for making 2018 the best it can possibly be.

We want 2018 to be a year of Black voices.

To make it happen, we’re going to use Tumblr to double the number of people who see this year's #Blackouts and help create sustainable online spaces of positivity for Black people all around the world. We’ll also be working with Color of Change to increase the number of Black writers and showrunners in Hollywood. Look for some of that next month during our Black History Month celebration.

We want 2018 to be a turning point for gender equality.

During Women’s History Month (and all year long) we’ll be working with NARAL Pro-Choice America end pregnancy discrimination, advance paid family leave, and strengthen the economic security of women and families. And we’ll elevate the stories of sexual assault and harassment from the #MeToo movement, rooted in the idea that bodily autonomy is a basic human right.

We want 2018 to see record voter turnout among young people.

We’re planning four voter registration drives with DoSomething.org to make sure everyone who’s eligible can vote and make their voices heard in the midterm elections.

We want 2018 to guarantee equal rights for everyone.

We’re partnering with Freedom for All Americans to protect the LGBTQ+ community from discrimination, and It Gets Better to elevate LGBTQ+ voices. And we’re throwing everything we can behind the passage of the DREAM Act.

We want 2018 to be the year mental illness loses its stigma.

We’ll be walking for mental health with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) to get 10,000 people to sign the Stigma Free pledge.

#WhatWillYouDo in 2018?