Organizations Supporting Kindness Across Wyoming
Source: Stand4Kind, Summer Camps
Kindness – it seems like a simple, obvious truth that just a little bit of kindness can go such a long way. Yet when it boils down to it, so many of us spend each day without considering for even a moment how we might work a little bit of kindness into someone’s day. We forget that kindness is simple – thinking that doing good only comes from nonprofits, organizations, or events. We forget that the most amazing part of kindness is that we can carry it with us at all times – it’s so small, light, and compact – and easily share it throughout our communities. Kindness doesn’t need special permits, leadership, or planning – often it’s just a little bit of thoughtfulness and a moment of your time.
Luckily, there ARE organizations and leaders ready to help remind you to sprinkle some extra kindness into your life and inspire you to seek new kinds of ways to show your goodwill.
We can make kindness as big or small of a thing as we want. And the amazing thing is that all across Wyoming and the country, organizations are showing us how we can spread kindness anyway, anywhere, any time that we want. Incredible resources like Stand4Kind and Kindness Wyoming have the information, tools, resources, organization, and tool kits to inspire kindness, and help you discover new ways to bring goodwill to your neighbors and community!
KINDNESS WYOMING
Article Contributor:
Mandy Fabel
Executive Director, Leadership Wyoming
What if Wyoming was just a little bit more kind? This was a question asked by eight members of a class participating in Leadership Wyoming. Together they began promoting ways to share kindness with friends, family, neighbors, and even (or maybe especially) strangers. The group is now called Kindness Wyoming and they focus their efforts on Random Acts of Kindness Week, which is coming up February 11–17, 2024. For many years running, the Governor of Wyoming signed a proclamation declaring it official kindness week across the state.
Starting three years ago, [Kindness Wyoming] began receiving support to send out kindness kits to families and businesses across the state. When that funding grew in 2023 – thanks to Jonah Bank and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation – they decided to go big. This year, they sent nearly 800 kits to 112,000 people in Wyoming, with a special focus on getting kindness kits to every school in Wyoming. For anyone who wants to download and print materials from the kit, you can go here.
The beauty of Random Acts of Kindness Week is that people can choose how they want to share kindness. Some may shovel snow for a neighbor or help someone to their car at the grocery store. Businesses may use their marquee to leave kind messages around town. One year, a senior center offered cookies and coffee gift cards to college students. Another year, a daycare wrote kind notes to police officers, who came to the daycare to receive them. The whole point is that kindness can come in all forms, and it doesn't have to cost a whole lot of money.
Join people all across Wyoming in sharing acts of kindness any day, but especially during the week of February 11-17, 2024.
STAND4KIND
Article Contributor:
Maggon Osmond
Stand4kind
It starts with your commitment to step up and set an example for the next generation. Stand4kind finds that teaching the next generation of students to be intentional each and every day by practicing acts of kindness and celebrating others’ acts of kindness will go a long way to creating a culture of kindness. Our Stand4kind Ambassador programs empower students to look around them and find the needs of their communities. We empower kids to make a difference and by doing so, change themselves in the process.
Watch a KSL 2 News Broadcast about Stand4kind Ambassador Camps
Ask your principal to consider a Stand4kind Ambassador program inside your local schools. This program includes assemblies, a mental wellness curriculum, summer/day camps, and a nationwide “kindness tracker” that allows students to get involved and have a visual representation of the goodness they are doing.
Get involved. Understand that we are all a part of the communities in which we live. We are each responsible for creating places where we can all thrive. Great change often begins with one person’s courageous efforts at a local level. The S4K Connects app was created to help unite communities around kindness, and mental wellness and to give access to local resources. Choose to care enough to get involved.
The nature of kindness is communal. Our Stand4kind Programs inside schools and our S4K Connects app for local businesses create an entire community that works together to reshape the culture and climate for our collective well-being. Individually we can make a difference, but collectively we can change the world.
Listen in on the S4K Talks Podcast!
