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Campaign Encourages Acts Of Kindness To Remain Resilient

A community campaign begins in Utah to encourage kindness

A northern Utah center that provides support for families is encouraging people to be kind during a recently launched campaign.

When the director and staff of The Family Placebecame aware of the opioid crisis in Utah and increasing rates of suicide here, they chose to take action by encouraging acts of kindness.

“We thought, what better way to help prevent and counteract some of the negative by focusing on the positive,” says Esterlee Molyneux, executive director of The Family Place, a non-profit support center in Cache Valley.

An escalating mental health epidemic in Utah is another reason The Family Place decided to launch a “Be Kind Utah” campaign.

“Kindness builds connections and connections build resilience. And that’s what helps us all get through those challenging situations.” Molyneux says.

Community members and people in Utah are encouraged to record 1 million acts of kindness in 40 days. Their goal is to achieve “1 million ways in 40 days.”  The campaign began on May 7 and continues through June 16.

“The best way to get involved is to just be kind. Be kind and focus on strengths.” Molyneux says. “It’s not only giving and sharing kindness but also noticing and receiving."

Acts of kindness can be anything from buying the coffee for the car behind you at a drive-thru, helping your mother with dinner or simply offering someone a compliment. Molyneux says there are endless ways to show kindness to others.

Molyneux says that even though the campaign has the goal of reaching 1 million acts of kindness in 40 days, the kindness doesn’t have to stop when the campaign does.

“The 40-day period is just one out of 365 days. I encourage kindness every day of our lives," she says.

Individuals can join the campaign by going to thefamilyplaceutah.org and clicking on the button that says “Join our Be Kind Utah Campaign.” Additionally, people can use two different hashtags to share their acts of kindness on social media to inspire others who may want to get involved: #BeKindUT2019 and #TheFamilyPlaceUtah.

At 14-years-old, Kerry began working as a reporter for KVEL “The Hot One” in Vernal, Utah. Her radio news interests led her to Logan where she became news director for KBLQ while attending Utah State University. She graduated USU with a degree in Broadcast Journalism and spent the next few years working for Utah Public Radio. Leaving UPR in 1993 she spent the next 14 years as the full time mother of four boys before returning in 2007. Kerry and her husband Boyd reside in Nibley.