How to join SSSSH

Dear Future SSSSH Members:

Do you want to join SSSSH? Please do so, for the world needs as many members as possible. It was Hal Reichle’s passion for anonymous goodness that enriched everyone’s lives, and this is what SSSSH is trying to sustain.

To join SSSSH, go do an anonymous good deed for someone. This is called "SSSSHing." Cut someone’s grass when they’re not home, wash someone's car, weed a stranger's garden, pick up trash carelessly discarded on someone's lawn, buy the meal for the person behind you at the fast-food drive-in window, plant some flowers in a desolate-looking front yard, buy a stranger's meal in a restaurant, put some coins into an expired parking meter, or be creative coming up with an idea of your own. Remember, every act of kindness must be anonymous! Your anonymous act of kindness must be performed to enrich the world's goodness, not for your personal recognition. If the recipient of your good deed knows who you are, in other words you were not anonymous, then you have not officially joined SSSSH!

It’s fun to plan such activities and figure out how to undertake them without being noticed. When finished, describe your act of kindness in a short note and mail it to SSSSH PO Box 642, Hiram, Ohio, 44234-0642 or send it to us on our SSSSH reporting page. Your act of kindness will be listed on this website under "Letters." DO NOT sign your note. DO NOT have a return name and address on your envelope. All of Hal’s acts of kindness were anonymous, and so shall our members be. Your reward will not come from publicity or recognition from your peers, but from within your heart. Remember, SSSSH, it’s truly a secret society!

Procedures for "Doing a

SSSSH."

SSSSHing is NOT doing random act of kindness, but rather carefully planned events. Because your anonymity is of utmost importance, you must make sure you are not discovered. To better understand this, I will give you some examples of how SSSSHing requires planning.

You get in line with other traffic at your chosen fast-food restaurant. You intend to buy the food for the people in the car behind you. At the order board, you order a soft drink and a triple-decker cheese burger for yourself. So far everything is going smoothly. Upon arriving at the pay window, you inform the clerk you are paying for your meal as well as the meal of the car behind you. You then hand the clerk the money and SSSSH card containing the below information. You instruct the clerk to give the card to the next car's driver.

Pulling up to the drive-in window where you receive your food, you look into your rear-view mirror and see the cashier hand the driver behind you the SSSSH card. At that time, you are informed by the clerk at your food window that it will be a minute or two for your triple-decker cheese burger, and to please pull forward and park. The driver behind you is now very curious who you are and why you paid for his/her meal. If you don't leave immediately, you will be discovered; if you do leave, you won't get your triple-deck hamburger. I know of one SSSSH recipient that followed, no chased, the car in front of him for several miles to try and discover his/her benefactor's identity. See the problem? Many anonymous good deeds do not require money. Go to our SSSSHing ideas page for more good-deed suggestions.

There is another possibility that must be considered. What if the clerk keeps your money, throws away the Reichle card, and charges the car behind you for their food? Sad, but it can happen. Stick around long enough to see the clerk hand your Reichle card to the driver behind you.

To prevent the above mentioned difficulties, only order a small soft drink for yourself. This will allow you a quick exit without complications.

"SSSSHing" is fun, it's often full of intrigue and suspense, can require much thought and planning, and it's a wonderful mini adventure! Also, the limits of your imagination are the only confines regulating the scope or uniqueness of your anonymous good deeds. Be clever! Be inventive! Remember, SSSSHing does not always require a financial outlay. Cut someone's grass, weed their garden, shovel their driveway free from snow, or wash their car. When you go SSSSHing, be sure to write of your adventures (anonymously, of course) to SSSSH PO Box 375, Hiram, Ohio, 44234-0375, or enter them on the SSSSH reporting website. After doing so, you will be an official and anonymous member of SSSSH! Your letters will be posted on this Website. Good luck and thank you for your giving spirit!

But remember, it's a

secret!

The Many Benefits of SSSSH

SSSSH, a wonderful opportunity for enjoying diversity
Forming community without a tragedy - at last!
A wonderful activity for civic clubs
A great opportunity for the poor to be able to give!
A special adventure for parties and family reunions
A wonderful "community involvement" activity for companies
Marvelous activity for students
Marvelous activity for senior citizens
Marvelous activity for the handicapped
Marvelous activity for families teaching values

Necessary Definitions

Ego-free compassion = Performing acts of generosity, charity, and kindness for strangers of all economic levels, anonymously, without receiving satisfaction, recognition, acceptance, or reward from any source other than from deep within yourself; giving simply for the intent of increasing the amount of goodness in the world. (Hal "Hooper" Reichle)

Community = A group of people usually comprised of both sexes with a wide mix of religions, ages, economic backgrounds, races, educational levels, and nationalities that, through a significant event, have become totally equal in all areas. Community occurs during tragedies, like tornado destruction, when millionaires work along side the homeless, when lawyers and policemen and parolees labor in unison, in total equality, respecting and honoring each other through the created camaraderie of their critical mission as they dig and search for survivors. Once the significant event is resolved – the storm damage is cleaned up, for example, and the injured are all rescued – the sense of community usually ends.

"SSSSHing" in groups of 6-10

people (45-second car washing,

for example)

Example: Hiram College has a 15-passenger van equipped to wash cars in 45 seconds. The van has wash and rinse water and eight people trained to perform this task. Displaying a sign on the back of the van, “WE WASH CARS FREE IN 45 SECONDS. IF INTERESTED, BLOW YOUR HORN AT THE NEXT STOP SIGN!” starts the process. When we hear a car horn, the car-wash van explodes with 8 to 10 people rushing from the van, each assigned to wash a specific portion of a car, each with a little bucket of soapy water and a washing mitt, with two people assigned to rinse phase. 45 seconds later, all are back in the van and the astonished driver is sitting, usually mouth open, in a clean car.

Develops a sense of community without the need for tragedy.
Creates a common bonding among diverse groups.
- Young and old.
- Various races and religions.
- Mixed occupations and economic levels.
- Handicapped participate on an equal level.
Encourages additional good deeds.
Selected recipients are often chosen randomly – rich or poor.
- Giving kindness is for everyone - to increase the goodness in the world.
- By doing good-deeds for the rich, the recipients are better equipped to continue doing good deeds for others.
Encourages recipients to participate in SSSSH on their own.
Encourages on lookers to participate in SSSSH on their own.
Increases the amount of goodness in the world.

"SSSSHing" in groups of three or

four.

The individual participants of your initial large group will often, days later, will again meet as smaller groups or individuals will gather new participants from their family or friends to do SSSSH activities.
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- This has all the advantages of the initial group of 10 participants listed above.

"SSSSHing" alone anonymously.

Eventually individuals will start SSSSHing alone.
- True anonymity is experienced.
- Non-instinctual “ego-free compassion” is developed.
- A special inner peace cannot be described.

SSSSHing pulls people,

organizations, and communities

together.

Wonderful activity for school students.
Wonderful activity for senior citizens.
Wonderful activity for small children in a family environment.
Wonderful activity for social groups.
- All school classes K-12 through graduate schools.
- Civic Organizations - Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions.
- Boy and Girl Scouts.
- Senior Citizens.
- Handicapped.
- Businesses.
- Community Projects.