The Ripple Station™
The Paradox That Started It All
Seven years. Thousands of handmade tokens painted and shared. Online workshops with attendees from around the world. And yet—my neighbor, just three houses down, had no idea this kindness movement even existed.
I was walking with my then-first grader one evening when we stopped to chat with a neighbor. My daughter was wearing a United Airlines pin, a gift from the pilot after we handed out little tokens of appreciation to the crew (and more than 250 other people) on a 10-day trip.
When my daughter explained, the neighbor’s jaw dropped.
I’d been pouring my heart into teaching people online how to make and gift appreciation tokens—17,000 followers across Facebook and Instagram. I had handed out over 500 of these tokens in our community and travels, gathering adulation and hugs, and yet so many of the people I pass on my daily walks had never held one in their hands.
That disconnect gnawed at me. Hashtags aren’t the same as handshakes. Likes aren’t the same as shared smiles. I began to wonder: What if kindness could live right here, on the sidewalk? What if this could be translated into a grassroots movement with a permanent presence in my hometown? What if I could make it easy for neighbors pick a handmade token to give away?
These questions became The Ripple Station™—Los Altos’ first public “kindness refuel stop.”
I knew I couldn't build this alone, so I sent a note out to our neighbors on Whatsapp back in May:
“Hello everyone,
I’m looking to create a Little Free Kindness Box—a small weatherproof station outside our home where anyone walking to town can pick up a few hand-painted tokens of appreciation to gift to grocery clerks, servers, baristas, or anyone they’d like to thank.
For those who don’t know, I make these tokens as part of a kindness movement I’ve been growing over the last seven years, and I’d love to make it easier for others to join in spreading smiles.
I don’t have carpentry skills, but I’m wondering if anyone here might be able to help me repurpose or build a small outdoor box—something like the Little Free Libraries we see around town. Nothing fancy—just sturdy, weatherproof, and easy to access.
Happy to figure out logistics, procuring materials, etc. This would be a gift to the whole community, and I’d love your help if this speaks to you.
Thank you!”
The whole point was community, after all.
I even shared a simple box idea to replicate.
One neighbor referred me to her carpenter, Ino, who came by to understand exactly what I wanted. I handed him one of my tokens with his name on it to show him what I was envisioning.
He looked shocked: “You make this by hand?” I nodded. “And you give it away. No charge?” I said “yeah it’s not to make money, it’s to spread kindness.” His eyes lit up. “I’ll make it for you,” he said. “Do you want exactly this design?” I told him he had creative license as long as it could hold about 40 tokens and was sturdy. He offered to paint it, too, and I said my daughter and I would…he should just let me know how much it’ll cost. “Don’t worry about it,” he said, waving away any talk of payment. “Let me do this for you.”
Ino’s generosity that day set the tone for everything that followed.
Even neighbors I barely knew checked in the last couple of months, curious if the box was coming to fruition. The ripple effect was already beginning.
The Art Behind the Tokens
While Ino built the station, I painted tokens. Lots of them.
Each small canvas held years of practice—workshops where I’d taught thousands to move past “I’m not artistic” and into “this feels good to make.”
Techniques refined through The RIPPLE Practice™, my six-step method for transforming creative resistance into generous connection.
No two tokens are identical. That’s the point. Handmade means imperfect, and imperfect means human. When someone receives something obviously crafted by hand, they feel seen in a way mass-produced items can’t touch.
These tokens carry almost a decade’s worth of experimentation, of learning what moves people to tears in a coffee shop, what makes a grocery clerk’s day, what reminds someone they matter. Some are elaborate. Some are simple. Each contains a whole lot of heart and, most of the times, my fingerprints.
A Dream Taking Shape
When Ino showed up two weeks ago with the “kindness box” as he envisioned it, I cried. He said: “I tried making it like your house, but if you don’t like it you can trash it and I’ll make a new one.”
This was a work of art in and of itself.
There was a double roof, a chimney, a rounded door, a magnet, a beautiful handle and enough space for tokens to be the star! I hugged him repeatedly through my goosebumps and I could see just how proud he felt. “I’m just happy you’re happy,” he said humbly. “I’ll come back next week to install it.”
My daughter and I went to work that weekend. At Los Altos Hardware, Kaia and Emerson spent twenty minutes helping me find the perfect shade of teal—the same color that had become my signature through years of teal-pumpkin-painting for kids with allergies. To us, the color represents inclusion, safety, thoughtfulness.
I spray painted the box two coats of “Lagoon” and the next day we took out all of our Posca markers. We knew we wanted flowers and hearts. We were sure it had to have rainbow colors. Two days, multiple coats, and intermittent bursts of tears over how surreal it felt, the “Kindness Box” was ready for varnish.
I wrote “Take One to Gift” instead of the typical “take one, leave one” message found on Little Free Libraries because this box is about abundance.
I deliberately wrote “Handmade Tokens” right in front because in a world of AI and automation, something made by human hands feels like resistance. Like hope.
On one side of the slanted roof it says “Kindness Ripples Inside. Created by Mansi; Fueled by YOU” and on the other our vibrant flowers invite engagement. One side wall simply says “Los Altos Let’s Be Kind” and the other proudly declares “Built by Ino.”
We even wrote Kindness Box but when I Googled the name I found so many variations: some with spa products, others with wildflower seeds, and some holding hygiene products for women. I didn’t want this to be another generic box open to interpretation. It had to be specific. To this movement, the Ripple Practice™ and community-building.
So, we came up with an elegant solution. I painted over it with white and stuck the heart-shaped community badge. It nestles perfectly in the peak connecting our physical station to years of digital community building, to people in dozens of countries who know this symbol means they are part of this movement. That, together, we can all be Ripple Makers.
My daughter came up with the name The Ripple Station™ and it tied everything together ever so perfectly. Our chopping board had split that morning, so I spray-painted one half of it in the same teal color and wrote the words that Ino would then install on the post. The Ripple Station™ has such a nice ring to it, right?
We put a business card holder inside, added custom labels that described what one should do with the tokens, and even tucked a little container that holds glitter pens if folks want to write a note on their way to downtown. This was now ready to be varnished and installed.
The First Weekend That Changed Everything
Installation day felt like Christmas morning. Ino came by with his power saw, quick-set concrete and inspected the planter I had selected. The original vision was to place a planter strategically in front of our hedge so the Ripple Station™ was viewable from both sided of the L-intersection are house is at. But Ino had a simpler, more elegant solution. How about placing it right next to the mailbox in a way that made it look like it was floating? It was perfect.
This Ripple Station™ would have remained a dream if it weren’t for him. His creativity, enthusiasm and kindness are ingrained in every part of this structure.
Within hours of putting it up and sharing a photo on our neighborhood Whatsapp group, the responses started flowing.
“Thank you for your wonderful new addition to our neighborhood !! What a lovely way to take a moment to thank and appreciate others and what they have added to our lives---you especially for this project. In this time of uncertainty, racism and mean spiritedness , it is refreshing to find hope and kindness ---that will ripple out.”
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“How beautiful you are doing this. I just read your email and showed your website to my college aged kids and as my daughter said - "oh there is good in the world after all. Many thanks for your kind heart.”
Within hours, I was receiving messages from people wanting to know if they could have one in their block, if I had plans they could borrow. One person reached out about “expanding the ripples” beyond our neighborhood. A watercolor artist offered to contribute tokens. That's when I realized this wasn’t just about Los Altos or me anymore. The ripple was already becoming a wave.
Protecting the Heart of the Movement
The Ripple Station™ is more than a box of painted tokens. It’s the embodiment of a practice I’ve been building for nearly a decade—a reminder that kindness doesn’t need Wi-Fi, just a willing hand.
I created this first one here in Los Altos, but I believe this model can ripple outward—thoughtfully, intentionally, without losing its heart.
That’s why I’ve created the Ripple Station™ Community Guide—so others can bring one to their neighborhoods while honoring the values, artistry, and quality that make it meaningful.
Because the world doesn’t need another viral project stripped of its soul. It needs small, rooted acts of kindness that grow, one connection at a time.
The Ripple Station™ is a registered concept of Little Tokens Big Ripples™. Created by Mansi Bhatia, Los Altos, California, August 2025. Learn more about The RIPPLE Practice™ and token-making techniques in my forthcoming book Little Tokens of Love, Big Ripples of Happiness (Schiffer Craft, Fall 2026).
