How to Join SSSSH!

To report a good deed, click here!
 

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 375, Hiram, Ohio, 44234-0375 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. 

   

To print a page of these cards for your use, click here.

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!