Student Health Services’s Wellness Education has teamed up with KIND Healthy Snacks to give out snack bars to students on Boston University’s campus who demonstrate kindness on Monday and Tuesday to celebrate this past Sunday’s World Kindness Day.
On Tuesday, Student Health Ambassadors are carrying about 50 KIND bars, which include a message about kindness, a link to the wellness blog and information about other Wellness Education activities, SHS Wellness Coordinator Michelle George said.
“I believe in the ‘Pay it Forward’ concept and how altruistic behavior decreases individual feelings of stress,” George said. “I believe that we need to keep our community foundation and help others.”
Student Health Ambassador Emily Sanchez, a Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation junior, said that students tend to become absorbed in their own lives and feelings to the point where they ignore another important aspect of living well – performing good deeds for others.
“These things or acts don’t have to be over exaggerated or something you have to go out of your way to accomplish,” Sanchez said. “They can be simple acts of kindness like holding the elevator for someone [or] helping someone pick up a stack of papers that just fell.”
George said she came across World Kindness Day when she was researching kindness and stress management online. She then got in touch with a representative from KIND and requested the company’s participation.
“I hope it means that students’ awareness level about the importance of being KIND increases,” George said.
The BU campaign with KIND was organized to celebrate the Kindness Day on Nov. 13, which marks the opening day of the first World Kindness conference, according to the Australian Kindness Movement website. The purpose of the campaign is to “look beyond ourselves, beyond the boundaries of our country, beyond our culture, our race, our religion; and realize we are citizens of the world.”
KIND has also participated in the movement through its “Do the KIND Thing” campaign, which launched in late March with the slogan “it’s usually the nuts that change the world,” according to a March 29 statement released by KIND.
Many Wellness Education members said they hope the two days will allow them to spread the idea of kindness and wellness.
“I think this whole event makes people stop and think about their actions and how they can positively affect others around them,” Sanchez said.
College of Arts and Sciences senior Rafi Spitzer said he believes in encouraging kindness on campus.
“Being kind means looking people in the eyes and smiling,” he said. It means noticing when people are down. It means lending a hand without being asked.”
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