Kindness Counts NCW: A Campaign To Chronicle and Celebrate the Good
A grassroots effort that aims to count 2,023 acts of kindness in 2023
A new grassroots movement aims to celebrate, promote and chronicle 2,023 acts of kindness in North Central Washington in 2023. The campaign, called Kindness Counts NCW, is a response to what organizers see as a disturbing amount of discord, divisiveness, division and loneliness in our society. According to a survey from CNN in partnership with the Kaiser Family Foundation, nine out of ten Americans agree that we are facing a mental health crisis in our nation and the fallout of the pandemic has included increasing levels of isolation and anger.
But rather than navel-gaze or languish in apathy, folks like retired NCESD Superintendent Gene Sharratt decided to take action and call for a “meeting of the minds,” as it were. Sharratt reached to community leaders, volunteers, members of the media, educators, business folks, retirees and more to put their heads together and focus on how we encourage kindness in our region. Some of the folks who answered the call and started meeting regularly to flesh out the idea included soon-to-be retired Wenatchee Downtown Association director Linda Haglund, Linda’s successor at the WDA Rosa Pulido, Wenatchee World columnist and Publisher Emeritus Rufus Woods, Sunny FM owner and DJ Dave Herald, La Pera Radio owner and radio personality Rafael Aguilar, as well as volunteers like Margie Kerr and Laurel Helton – the duo behind the much-lauded Wenatchee Valley Make A Difference Day. Other volunteers and ad hoc committee members include folks from across North Central Washington, like Beth Stipe, executive director of the Community Foundation of North Central Washington, Abbie Gunderson, Eldene Wall, Melanie McQuaig, Dr. Chio Flores with the Wenatchee Valley College, June Darling, Ray Dobbs and former Chelan Mayor Mike Cooney. The committee and the campaign is now under the auspices of Community Foundation and I have also been a part of the committee since our first meeting in early January, focusing on media strategy and creative direction.
The goal is to collect, chronicle and celebrate acts of kindness and catalog 2023 kind acts during the course of 2023. In order to do that, we have set up a simple website, KindnessCountsNCW.com with a form where folks who have performed, witnessed or received an act of kindness can share their stories.
We will take those stories, curate them and format them in a way that is useful to our media partners, which include The Wenatchee World, Sunny FM, La Pera Radio and others who will be announced in the coming weeks. Those media partners will highlight these acts of kindness in special sections in print as well as broadcast segments that will celebrate those stories and promote the act of being kind in our communities.
And it’s about more than simply spreading good feelings. Being kind is proven to be good for both mental and physical health. According to the Mayo Clinic, “Kindness has been shown to increase self-esteem, empathy and compassion, and improve mood. It can decrease blood pressure and cortisol, a stress hormone, which directly impacts stress levels. People who give of themselves in a balanced way also tend to be healthier and live longer.”
A kind act is also a great way to start a conversation, get to know someone better and even form a new friendship. Kindness can be the antidote to isolation, loneliness, bitterness and anger.
Like Martin Luther King Jr. said: “Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
So far the campaign has been met with support from both individuals as well as city governments across the region. The cities of Wenatchee, East Wenatchee, Cashmere, Chelan, Waterville and Moses Lake are all passing proclamations this month declaring Feb. 17 “Kindness Counts Day.”
The proclamations declaring Feb. 17 Kindness Counts Day coincide with “Random Acts of Kindness” Day, which is Feb. 17. The website for Random Acts of Kindness has a plethora of ideas on how to be kind in every area of our lives, from school, to work and even at home.
We set up a Facebook page and an Instagram account for the campaign, and the grassroots effort has been getting local media attention already. A version of the website in Spanish is also in the works and will be online soon.
As the co-founder and admin of the Together Wenatchee Facebook group, I see this as the next step in a local movement focused on the good we can do for each other and for ourselves without direction from any external force or authority figure. That group, which my wife and I started at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, was at first an attempt to support locally-owned businesses and folks who were out of work because of the shutdowns. Since then it has grown into a community resource where people offer each other support and advice, celebrate each others’ achievements and the achievements of our students and athletes, as well as mourn the loss of pillars of our community. It has even helped people locate lost pets.
I believe Together Wenatchee and other pro-community groups in our region will fit hand in hand with Kindness Counts NCW and provide places to collect as well as celebrate kindness in our region.
So please share your kindness story at kindnesscountsncw.com right now. We’d love hear your story of receiving, performing or witnessing a kind act!
I'm wondering how the committee is getting school age youth and young adults involved. Doesn't seem to be any on the committee. Thanks!
Bravo!!! 👏👏👏👏👏