On the weekend of January 19th through the 21st, #Kindflash will flood the streets with kindness! This idea helped launch the group in 2015, and they will celebrate the start of the tenth year of #Kindflash by again collecting, packaging and distributing warm clothing items of hats, gloves, socks, and scarves.
This project will have two stages and you can participate in either or both!
Gatherers: To collect/purchase/make the items - new Socks, Scarves, Hats, Gloves. If you have items to share or are willing to order items for another volunteer to distribute, please sign up on our Gatherers "share" list so that volunteers in need of items can connect with you directly: You can sign up to gather HERE!
Distributors: Volunteers to log the items online, pack them in ziplock bags along with the postcards (which explain the bags are free to take), and then tie them to trees/poles in the neighborhood for which they sign up. Each neighborhood should receive a minimum of 20 packages. Cincinnati has 52 neighborhoods and there are 200+ in the Greater Tristate area. We hope to serve a total of 60 this year. You can sign up to distribute HERE!
GOAL - if #Kindflash can serve 60 neighborhoods with 20 donations containing a minimum of 2 items apiece, we will distribute at least 2400 items over the course of one weekend! Please involve your friends, coworkers, schools and churches in this project for a substantially greater impact. A scarf or a hat may only mute the cold ... but they hope that the message on the note to the reader that they are cared for will help keep them warm on the inside. Any questions, email kindflash@gmail.com Please share this far and wide! #Kindflash will distribute the items the weekend of January 19-21, 2024.
According to Liz Wu, the Founder of #Kindflash:
"The first city-wide clothes drive came out of an unseasonably cold, bitter, and snowy winter in 2015. I had seen a news article with a photo of warm clothing items hung on trees in Louisville with a little note attached saying they were free to take.
This year marks our 10th annual City-wide Clothing Drive. The group that formed from the inaugural event was originally named "Random Acts of Kindness," and we called our larger-scale events "Kindflash" events - like flashmobs of kindness. Eventually, the organization became known as #Kindflash as well. The idea behind #Kindflash is to cultivate a culture of kindness, and to invite/empower individuals to help and uplift others in ways that do not require a large commitment of time or money.
Though sometimes all the suffering in the world can seem overwhelming, we can each make a huge difference in another person's day - oftentimes with something as simple as lending a listening ear, or giving a sincere compliment. Kindness is contagious, and it is a super-power that each one of us can use to transform the world around us. We invite everyone to get involved and to find the ways they can spread kindness in their community."