VOLUNTEERS SURPRISE STAFF at MelroseWakefield Hospital with treats on Kindness Day last year. (Melrose Kind Photo)
By ELLEN PUTNAM
MELROSE — Kindness Day may be a newer holiday in Melrose but November 20th has quickly become many Melrosians’ favorite day of the year as people across the city shower one another in kindness of all sorts.
Kindness Day originally started as a response to unkindness. In 2015, a group of Melrose middle school students, emulating characters on the television show South Park said that November 20th was “kick a ginger day” and Melrose hit the news in an unfortunate light. The following year, Maribeth Darwin, co-founder of Melrose Kind decided to take back November 20th and focus on kindness instead. That first Kindness Day was launched with a single Facebook post; today, hundreds of Melrose residents across the city are preparing to shower others with kindness on November 20th.
Although Darwin stepped down from Melrose Kind this summer, co-founder Stephanie Nelson and new co-Chair Kelly Hourigan have taken over Melrose Kind’s monthly Kindness Porch collections and are currently planning for Kindness Day.
Melrose Kind is a resource for Melrosians looking to find a way to participate in Kindness Day, but, Nelson emphasized there are no requirements for participation and all acts of kindness, however big or small are welcome. “We’re here to help facilitate,” Nelson said, “but you don’t need to check in with us. If you just want to do your own thing, that’s awesome too.”
Some Melrosians may want to shower a community organization or department with kindness; the Melrose Police Department or Department of Public Works for example or workers at MelroseWakefield Hospital or the YMCA and Melrose Kind is ready to help coordinate. Others may choose to do something as simple as holding open a door, buying a stranger coffee or baking cookies for a neighbor.
VOLUNTEERS DELIVER PIZZA to Department of Public Works staff on Kindness Day last year. (Melrose Kind Photo)
Some kind actions may have a lasting impact, beyond what the giver might imagine. For the past several years, students in the elementary schools have written letters to senior citizens. Nelson said that the residential directors of the senior living communities have told her that sometimes they see those letters on residents’ fridges for months afterward. High school students have written letters to teachers who have had an impact on them sometimes reaching back to early elementary school.
And middle school students have sent notes to patients at MelroseWakefield Hospital sometimes giving them the strength they need to recover. Nelson tells one story from several years ago of a woman who was battling cancer and had just told her partner “I can’t do it anymore.” A volunteer came in with a flower and an encouraging note and the woman burst into tears saying, “It’s a sign.”
“I’m so proud of what we’ve built,” said Nelson. “When you’re feeling overwhelmed by the news or life in general, just imagine if every community did this! It doesn’t take that much. I really, in my heart, believe that with a ripple effect this movement could help change the world.”
“I’m human and make lots of mistakes,” Nelson went on, “but I start every chance I can from a place of kindness because it matters. I know that’s the foundation of things getting better. If we’re constantly keeping kindness in all of our collective mindsets then it gives us hope.”
If you want ideas of how to celebrate Kindness Day, email stephanie@melrosekind.com or kelly@melrosekind.com. Or just go out on November 20th and do something kind for someone else! And please consider liking/following Melrose Kind on Facebook to see all the good happening next week.
