Last fall, Michigan resident Tom Leeper was thinking about how he could get other people in his community to perform acts of kindness to help make 2022 a better year than the last couple. "I thought, 'well, wouldn't be fun if we could get 365 people to volunteer, do a random act of kindness once a day?'” recalls Tom. “And so that was the goal ... to say, 'alright, can we get this many people?'" He ran the idea by his buddy Travis Furlow, who thought it might take off. So with that goal in mind, Tom created the 365 Days of RAOK Facebook group.
At first, Leeper was only thinking that people he knew in his area would take part in the group, but pretty soon people from across the country caught on, and eventually the group started getting some members from other countries, too. "From the moment he launched it, it has done a massive uptick of good on a daily basis,” says Furlow. “[It] became a fun feed for me to watch in a time when some of the feeds on social media aren't as fun to watch anymore."
So far, 748 volunteers across 50 states and 14 countries have been assigned a date in 2022 to perform a random act of kindness. "The last couple of years have been tough on people, COVID, politics, all that stuff. I think people were kind of excited to sign up for something where it's like, 'oh, okay, yeah, I would love to do this,'" says Leeper. "They're coming together for accountability in some capacity, but also for a sense of belonging." Leeper says the group still has plenty of opportunities for new members to take part. Anyone wanting to participate should head to the group’s Facebook page.
Source: WXYZ