Juneau Police will kick off the campaign with public potlucks on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day to encourage locals to commit daily acts of kindness and to reach out weekly to individuals outside their usual circles.
Our partners at KINY in Juneau report that groups, businesses, government agencies and others also are choosing a different week of the year for their employees to conduct “kindness surges,” with correctional officers at the local prison taking the first week.
Ideas being considered include visiting local senior homes, distributing care packages and paying for a stranger’s meal.
The goal is to measure the impact of kindness on such areas as crimes, suicides and emergency calls at the end of 2017, according to Lt. Kris Sell, who hatched the idea in a partnership with the global kindness advocate, Random Acts, and others.
Last week, special education students from Juneau-Douglas High School traveled across town to hand out candy canes at Thunder Mountain High School. A 17-year-old Thunder Mountain senior died in September after accidentally shooting himself.
At the Lemon Creek Correctional Center, corrections officers are planning individual projects to carry out during kindness surge the first week of the new year. One officer plans to make care bags with snacks, bus tokens and other items to pass around town.