By Jessica Peyton Roberts
Crystle and Alvin Jenson are gracious hosts. Alvin waves me into the driveway, while Crystle is waiting for me on the front porch. She skips the handshake and extends her arms out, explaining, “I’m a hugger.” The Jensons are used to welcoming strangers into their home, volunteering their house as a site for military families to receive counseling, hosting parties, and functioning as a home base before charity events.
The catch? Two years ago Alvin medically retired from military service, but the couple agreed they felt called to continue participating in the military community. “We wanted to always be close to the military community,” Crystle explains, “We had this vision of helping other military families.”
They left Fort Hood to return to the JBLM area, where Alvin began his military service. In attempt to connect with local military spouses, Crystle turned to Facebook.
She joined the group JBLM Super Moms, hoping to meet more women in the area. “Out of 30 members, I was the only posting,” she laughs. Eventually the group’s administrator approached Crystle about taking over. As the group’s numbers rose, Crystle recruited Maria Cordero, Liz Meyer, and Heather Armour as additional administrators. Today, Super Moms has 1,050 members, and continues to grow, as Crystle channels her energy into connecting local military wives with each other.
Crystle prioritizes keeping the group “Drama Free, Not Free Drama,” explaining that its members need to feel comfortable sharing personal thoughts without fear of judgment. She is clearly proud of how the women jump to help each other with everything from locating a good pediatrician to tracking down a sale. Moreover, the women function as a support network for each other, providing advice and resources for those struggling with marital, parental, or health issues.
The women frequently provide childcare for each other, while Crystle and Christina Mulliford run JBLM Homes, a resource for military families to see what homes on base look like before moving in. Ms. Cordero runs the group’s own Cinderella’s Closet, where women and girls can rent dresses for free.
Inspired to expand the group’s commitment to helping others into the broader community, Crystle launched a Random Acts of Kindness campaign to JBLM Super Moms. Looking online for ideas, she discovered the non-profit organization, Random Acts, which funds people’s ideas for random acts of kindness for up to $500. The money comes from private and corporate sponsors from around the world, enabling people to effect positive change in their own lives and in the lives of others.
Crystle submitted an application proposing she pay for $50 worth of groceries for 10 people at her local store. After paying for 9 people, Crystle wanted the last person to be someone special. “I wanted to see someone who had just food items in their cart, because then you know they really are on a tight budget. And I wanted them to have kids.” She waited for ten minutes by the checkout line, until a woman with two young children and a food-only haul appeared. “When I told her that her groceries were paid for, she started crying and explaining that her husband had lost his job…she was so happy,” Crystle recounts. She starts tearing up a little, and then I do.
We pause to track down some tissues.
She goes on to explain how she recruited her fellow Super Moms for assistance with another project. Crystle and Alvin submitted an idea to feed a Spaghetti Dinner to Olympia’s homeless people. The Super Moms helped Crystle and Alvin pack up and deliver the meal. Nadia Riley brought clothes to hand out, along with local teens who volunteered to assist for the evening. Rachel Young, owner of Miss Moffett’s Mystical Cupcakes, donated trays of cupcakes.
Some of the Super Moms discovered that acts of kindness are not always readily accepted. When Ashley Mills and Chandra Montgomery attempted to give out free hugs at their local mall they observed, “We only had three or four takers for hugs, but we were also giving out Hershey hugs for people who didn’t want to hug us. Even that was difficult. We didn’t mind though. It was a lot of fun.”
Aryn Alizabeth Taylor and her daughter made cupcakes and cookies for the JBLM gate guards, who told her nicely that they were not allowed to accept them. (Fortunately, Ms. Taylor’s husband helped her out by eating them!)
Still, it is the attempt that matters. Meanwhile, the Super Moms continue to look for opportunities to actively intervene into the lives of those around them in a positive way. Through their Random Acts projects, these Super Moms remind us to harness our thoughts of goodwill into action – because any kindness, no matter how small, means something to someone.
