Whether picking up a piece of trash on the sidewalk or donating clothing items to a local shelter, kind acts take place throughout our communities on a daily basis.
The One Billion Acts of Kindness campaign kicked off in 2016 to encourage educators, students and their families to document and submit their kind acts online. By creating this initiative, the Orange County Department of Education and County Superintendent Dr. Al Mijares hope to promote a greater sense of civility, character and positive school climates.
As the population continues to recover from a global pandemic, people have continued to do their part to make a positive impact in the lives of others. As of this month, more than 14.5 million acts have been logged with the #Kindness1Billion initiative.
The OCDE Newsroom has gathered a collection of good deeds carried out by our Orange County schools, educators, students and community members.
Below are a few of the kind stories you have shared with us so far this year:
- We’re so proud of Smith Elementary’s Student Senate for leading a school-wide sock drive! The donations were delivered to a local youth shelter and were greatly appreciated!
- The YMCA programs on Huntington Beach City School District elementary campuses had their children make special Valentine cards for senior citizens! The cards will accompany their meals that are delivered via Meals on Wheels on Valentine’s Day! Peterson Elementary’s cards were featured in the Daily Pilot!
- We have a group of friends who help some of our less mobile friends at recess.
- Huntington Beach City School District is beyond proud of Sowers Middle School’s National Honor Society for exemplifying kindness! Students led two donation drives to give back to our community — a monetary donation to the HB Central Park Reading Program & donated hygiene items to local shelters for those in need.
- My friend Rocky for picking me up from work (Fullerton) and bringing me to my house (Buena Park) to get my car and following me to my mechanic to get it looked at (Garden Grove).
- Dwyer Middle School ASB hosted Kindness gram sales to spread kindness around campus! The grams will be distributed school-wide as part of Dwyer’s Random Acts of Kindness Day activities!
- Jennie McCoun totally helped me. She is the best.
- This morning, I stopped to get a coffee at Starbucks located on 500 N Brookhurst St. in Anaheim and they just had the most awesome customer services one can have early in the morning. I got my coffee, didn’t really look at it till I got to work and then, right in front of my coffee cup was “you are AWESOME” written on it. I just felt it was super kind of them to have written that.
- I was able to give a bottle of water to a homeless man on the street today in the extreme heat.
- A colleague helped me without me having to ask. I had recently moved and then gotten COVID and I have not been able to continue getting settled and I have a large piece of furniture arriving soon and he kindly came over and helped me prepare the space! There was so much kindness and joy, I really appreciated it and it gave me quite a boost.
- Tuesday was our first T-Shirt Tuesday of the year. Students & staff were encouraged to wear their Let’s Be Kind t-shirts from last April to promote kindness on our campus.
- The Acts of Random Kindness Club is always trying to find ways to spread kindness at Estancia. The ARK Club wrote notecards to all new students who transferred to our school this year.
Don’t forget to log your kind acts on the kindness1billion.org website, or download our free app for iOS and Android devices. For more on kindness, check out these stories we’ve shared on the OCDE Newsroom, including the “Exploring Kindness” episode of The Deeper Learning Podcast, hosted by Orange County Superintendent Dr. Al Mijares.