'One Million Acts of Kindness' Rolls Into Town

It's tough to miss him: Bob Votruba—the Cleveland man behind "One Million Acts of Kindness"—is in Santa Monica spreading his "message of love and kindness.”

He drives an old school bus painted in a rainbow of messages aimed at encouraging kids to help others. It was parked on Santa Monica Boulevard Friday morning as Votruba peddled along the Third Street Promenade. When he's not in his 7 by 12-foot bus (where he lives), he's on his bike, displaying big cardboard signs that read "Riding 4,000 Miles for Heroes" and "Riding for Wounded Warriors."

"What I'm trying to do with this ride is raise awareness with kids that 'here's the real role models you should be looking up, go this way with a message of kindness and love because that's how we make the world a better place,'" he said. 

The "One Million Acts" campaign won national attention thanks to public service announcements on Oprah’s cable TV network, OWN, and has been profiled in lots of local news outlets. 

He's been in Southern California for several days now, recently visiting Balboa Naval Hospital to spend time with a wounded Marine Colonel Michael Fox. On Thursday, he rode in Costa Mesa in honor of two police officers who died 25 years ago when two helicopters crashed.

In the coming days, Votruba said he will meet with the chiefs of the Santa Monica police and fire departments. He will spend 10 days here and might organize rides to honor local servicemen, he said.

"There's an unusual amount of police and firefighters who have lost their lives in this town over the years," he said. "It's like 16 individuals."

His rides to honor serviceman began after 9/11 and the Virginia Tech shooting when "every parent in the world said ‘what kind of scary world is this?’"