A candy car feeds an exciting new initiative

Spoiler alert: No talk of politics this week. I will let the talking heads talk and political pundits pontificate and then I will tell you what really happened and why. No applause, please. Just doing my job.

Instead, I am going to tell you about a remarkable woman doing a remarkable thing and that, despite the partisan poison being spewed these days, reminds us we do have a better side. And it all started with a candy bar.

You may recall that at the beginning of October, I mentioned a group called Kind30, which challenged us to “commit to a small act of kindness each day. Whether it is a simple compliment, sharing a meal, helping a neighbor or volunteering your time.” At the time, I pledged to make the effort to do an act of kindness every day of the month. I give myself an “A” for good intentions, although execution could have been better. But that led me to learn more about the organization.

Kind30 is the brainchild of retired Atlanta businesswoman Beth Abernathy. For no other reason than she is innately a kind person, Abernathy began a habit a couple of years ago of buying a candy bar to give to the person bagging her groceries each week.

A small act of kindness to be sure. It not only brought a smile to the recipient, but she also told me, it made her feel good, as well. Her friend, Diane Moffett, a community volunteer who had started a nonprofit focusing on mental wellness, referenced an article in the New York Times on the issue of loneliness and how even the smallest of kind of interactions can have a positive impact on mental health. The research showed that kindness can be part of the cure.

Beth recalled her own experience with the candy bars and wondered what it would be like spreading kindness each day as an intentional act. She then brought in Julie Salisbury, a communications executive and an expert in nonprofit communications. Thus, was born Kind (Kindness Is Needed Daily) and 30, to commit a simple and intentional act of kindness once a day for 30 days.

In April of this year, the three went to the ministers of their church, Peachtree Road United Methodist, to seek permission to try out the program among the membership. The response was a unanimous “yes.” The group selected October 2024 for its launch, centering around Oct. 10, which is World Mental Health Day.

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Then came the what-ifs. What if we asked other Houses of Worship to get to be part of this initiative? What if schools or civic groups or maybe even corporations got involved? Never accuse this group of thinking small. Beth Abernathy says the response has been overwhelming. Great ideas usually are.

In the few short months since the idea was hatched, to date they have gotten commitments to participate in Kind30 from such blue-chip businesses as Home Depot, Delta Airlines, RaceTrac, Dentons (the world’s largest law firm), GE Appliances in Louisville, Kentucky, and the Sea Island Company.

Kind30 is also in a number of schools in metro Atlanta and other parts of the state. Not only that but there are Girl Scout troops involved as well as tennis teams, Bible studies groups and a host of nonprofits, all committed to the idea of intentional acts of kindness each and every day.

As a retired corporate suit, I had to ask: What is the cost to a business to be a part of Kind30? The answer: None. Each business has its own unique culture, but Kind30 fits them all. Just do kind things. Hold open the door for a colleague. Smile at a coworker. Ask about the family. Surprise the workgroup with lunch one day. Say “thank you.” Not only are these acts of kindness, they are good for morale, which is good for business.

Beth Abernathy and her colleagues at Kind30 have come a very long way in a very short time but they are just getting started. The group says its ultimate goal is “to inspire a nationwide movement that unifies a diverse array of people of all backgrounds and ideologies to choose to be more kind, every single day.” It can’t begin soon enough. You can find out more about this organization and its efforts on their website, www.kind30.org.

Next week, it is back to politics and unkind people saying unkind things about each other. Thankfully, there is an antidote. Kind30. Long may it live.

You can reach Dick Yarbrough at [email protected] or at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139.