JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Amid an increasingly contentious environment of social discourse, a campaign is aiming to increase kindness.
The Journey2Kindness campaign kicked off a kindness challenge on Feb. 17, National Random Acts of Kindness Day.
“We’re asking everyone to take this challenge and get us all involved to be reminded and remind each other to be kind…it’s contagious,” said Amy Barnett, founder and president of the American Civility Association.
Barnett said that people can help spread kindness by using social media, in addition to the acts themselves.
“Neuroscientists have found that if we witness an act of kindness, we’re more likely to do an act of kindness, even if it’s just a picture of an act of kindness,” said Barnett “So we’re challenging people to take photos of acts of kindness.”
Barnett said people can send photos to the American Civility Association’s Facebook page.
Each week for four weeks, the group is creating themes for different ways to spread kindness. The themes are:
- Week 1: Pay it forward
- Week 2: Kindness for community heroes
- Week 3: Kindness for military and first responders
- Week 4: Kindness at work, school and neighborhoods