Kindness Campaign

Director’s Report on the Kindness Campaign in Asheville, NC

"Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves." - James Barrie

This is a progress report on the Kindness Campaign in Asheville since its inception July 15, 2004. I will describe the progress we have made on the reaching the goals listed in a separate article on this site and our plans for reaching them in 2005.

During July, August and September 2004 we held several a number of organizational meetings and finally October 22, 2004 we held a Community Kick-Off Meeting and launched the Campaign in Asheville.

Goal #1: Hire a Volunteer Coordinator: In late September 2004 we hired Cathy Holt to be our Volunteer Coordinator for 12-15 hours per week. Cathy has performed admirably and we would not progressed as far as we have if Cathy had not come on board. We would like to be able to increase this position to 25-30 hours per week in 2005.

Goal #2: Recruit One Hundred Volunteers: We have recruited approximately 60 volunteers and about 25 of them have actively participated in one of our events. From this group, we have formed an Executive Committee of 6 volunteers to help advise the Director and Volunteer Coordinator on the direction of the Campaign in Asheville.

Goal # 3: Circulate 57,000 buttons: With existing funds and a $500 grant from Jubilee we purchased 7,000 buttons. In addition, Ashley Furniture has agreed to buy 10,000 more buttons and Ingles Grocery has agreed to purchase 40,000 additional buttons. When all these buttons are distributed in the community this goal will have been met.

Goal # 4: Hold an Annual Kindness Week Celebration: This is currently being planned for February 13-20, 2005 and will include many community activities. See the separate article on Kindness Week on the Kindness Campaign in Asheville page on this site.

Goal # 5: Hold an Annual Interfaith Celebration of Kindness: A committee of 14 people is busily planning this event for Tuesday, February 15, 2005 at St Eugene’s Catholic Church in Asheville. See the separate article on the Interfaith Celebration on the Kindness Campaign in Asheville page on this site.

Goal # 6: Give Community of Kindness Awards: So far this fall we have given this award to 8 individuals and three organizations. We plan to give at least one of these awards each month. There are stories about these awards in the article on the Community of Kindness Awards in Asheville on this site.

Goal # 7: Target One Neighborhood to Make Kinder and Safer: We have begun planning for this to happen in during 2005. One area we are targeting is the West Asheville neighborhoods. We have a number of representatives of West Asheville organizations on our Community Advisory Board who are helping us plan this initiative.

Goal # 8: Implement the Kindness Campaign’s Kind and Safe Schools Program in Six Schools: We have contacted five schools in the Asheville area and have begun preliminary work with three of them. Asheville Catholic School has committed to begin the Kind and Safe Schools Program starting in August 2005. Two schools helped us by having the children make Christmas Cards that a local men’s group distributed at Christmas time. These schools will be having children make Valentine’s that they will distribute to senior centers and nursing homes on February 14.

Goal # 9: Have Businesses Adopt Four Schools: We are asking local businesses to “adopt” a school and help pay for us to implement our Kind and Safe Schools Program. We are currently discussing this project with Ingles to see if they will participate. They have committed to integrating publicity on the Kindness Campaign and possibly helping schools to purchase our curriculum materials. With their support, we could move this project forward rather quickly.

Goal # 10: Encourage increased aid and support to one group of disadvantaged citizens: With the advice of the community representatives on our Community Advisory Board, we plan to select a disadvantaged group in Asheville to assist in 2005. We have not made that selection at this time.

Goal # 11: Team With RiverLink on River Cleanups: We plan to mobilize our volunteers to assist RiverLink on any river cleanup projects they initiate during 2005.

Goal # 12: Recruit at least twelve businesses, non-profits and churches as Community Sponsors of the Kindness Campaign. We already have nine Community Sponsors, so we are confident we can reach this goal early in 2005.

Goal # 13: Help Asheville Become “The Kindest City in America:” We are not sure this will be completed by the end of 2005 and may be an on-going goal. Having said that, we are clearly getting lots of support toward reaching this goal. The Mayor and City Council have given their support to the idea and we have developed a set of indices with which to measure our progress. These are described in a separate article on this site titled “The Community of Kindness Index.”

Goal # 14: Secure Media Sponsors: We have made great progress on this goal.
The Citizen-Times has agreed to be a media sponsor, The Spirit in the Smokies magazine has also agreed to sponsor the Campaign. Clear Channel radio, with five stations in Asheville, has agreed to carry Public Service Announcements of all our events on their stations. We are talking with other media outlets to expand on the excellent coverage we are currently getting.

Goal # 15: Secure Grants and Donations: We have set our goal on receiving at least four grants this year to help pay for the operating expenses of the Kindness Campaign. In addition, we will need about $20,000 in corporate and individual donations.

Goal # 16: Hold Dialogue Dinners: We are interested in promoting more understanding across religious, racial and cultural lines. We will partner with other organizations to hold at least six dialogue dinners in the next year designed to reach this objective.

Goal # 17: Create a Community Advisory Board: We have created a Community Advisory Board consisting of 18 members. This Board met for the first time November 19, 2004. We may add more members to this Board as we expand our programs. The Board members are available to consult with us on any projects that involve the constituents that the Board members represent.

Kindness Campaign Launches Interfaith Dialogue Dinners

"This is the most powerful dialogue I have ever had about my beliefs. It is what I have been looking for at my church and never found until now." - a participant in a series of Interfaith Dialogue Dinners sponsored by the Kindness Campaign.

On February 15, as part of Kindness Week in Asheville, over 300 people gathered at St. Eugene Catholic Church for an interfaith celebration of kindness. Ten different faith groups joined to celebrate the ways kindness unifies all religions and faith groups.

Following that event, 40 people signed up to participate in Interfaith Dialogue groups where 6-8 people gather for three facilitated potluck dinners to explore the commonalities between people of diverse religions and faiths. Meeting in participants' homes, the dialogues explored how each formed his or her current religious or spiritual beliefs. In addition, members described how they practice their faith on a daily basis; some brought readings or music to share that had deep meaning to them. One group decided to attend each other's place of worship. Several of the groups have decided to continue to meet and expand their dialogues.

While most participants described themselves as progressive, some were from more conservative or traditional faith groups. Most numerous were Catholics, followed by Unitarians, Jubilants, and those with no religious affiliation. There were also a few Buddhists and Jews.

The most frequent reasons the participants gave for attending the dialogue dinners were to learn more about the deeply held spiritual beliefs of others in the group, to deepen their understanding of the role that religion and spirituality play in the lives of others, and to get to know people of other faiths.

The stories told by participants of their religious and spiritual journeys were very moving. One woman described how she was raised in a Southern Baptist home and how her grandmother loved to dance, but the church was against dancing. She stated, "I was empowered when I saw my grandmother defy the church edict and dance whenever she could. I went on to a Baptist College where, again, I wasn't allowed to dance. I left after two years and became a Christian mystic." Later she went into the dramatic arts and became a dancer, studying dance from many ancient traditions.

Another participant grew up in a traditional Lutheran family, married in the church and raised her children in that faith until she and her husband got a divorce. "This pushed me out of my safe nest. I had to find what was true for me." Her spiritual journey led her to study eastern religions. She lived in several intentional communities during this period, and then entered a Lutheran Seminary. "After Seminary I became a Youth Minister and a Christian Education Minister, but I grew dissatisfied with having to play a lesser role in the church because I was a woman." Later she went to a Quaker Seminary because of their stance on peace and justice issues and served as a minister at several churches. Now a hospital chaplain, she says: "Because of my past experiences, I can walk alongside my patients and hear them in a non-judgmental way. I feel blessed that my experiences have brought me closer to God, even though it is not in a traditional church setting."

"The major threats to world peace so often involve people who pray differently," said one of the dinner hosts. "Listening to people of different faiths is amazingly powerful; it gives me experiences and insights I didn't have before." What struck him most were the similarities in perspective everyone shared--from a Catholic nun to New Age worshipers. Although the rituals and structure differ, the essence is similar. "It was all us, no them," he concluded.

Upon completing the dinners, most participants indicated that they developed more compassion for the religious/spiritual beliefs of others in their group and got to know other people they would not normally interact with. One participant said, "I really like the respect that people gave each other during our sharing." Another participant said, "I felt I learned more about myself by speaking with others about my religious beliefs" Almost all of the participants were eager to continue meeting with their groups beyond the three sessions. A number of the participants said, "This was a great experience, now what is next?"

- Barry K. Weinhold & Cathy Holt