Valpo slates Random Acts of Kindness Week

VALPARAISO | You don't have to wait 11 1/2 months to get into the Christmas spirit again.

The week of Feb. 13 to 17 the city will encourage residents to participate in Random Acts of Kindness Week. Mayor Jon Costas will start the week off with a proclamation urging residents to be involved.

"We envision and encourage the sowing of intentional random acts of kindness, so our entire community will benefit not only from receiving them but also from the giving," Costas said. "It's a good thing to remind citizens we are our brother's keeper. One of the wonderful things about our community is the sense that it's about us and not the individual."

Christine Hisick, the city's neighborhood liaison and human resources assistant, is helping organize the event by trying to get businesses, schools, nonprofit organizations and individuals to commit random acts of kindness.

"You can show kindness in so many ways, from donating food to a local food bank or family in need, shoveling snow for a neighbor or anything that helps brighten a day for others," Hisick said.

Random Acts of Kindness Week is an internationally observed week sponsored by the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, whose website www.randomactsofkindess.org has suggestions for acts of kindness in the home, workplace and elsewhere. It can range from providing free babysitting to something as simple as holding a door open. This is the first time the city has actively participated in it.

"We see kindness every day in Valparaiso," Hisick said. "The Random Acts of Kindness Week is a great way to celebrate this and inspire people into action to do even more for others. The acts are meant to be anonymous, so that the value comes from the giving, not the receiving."

People are urged to report random acts of kindness to Hisick so they can be posted on the city's Facebook page. Among those that have agreed to participate are Valparaiso Community Schools, Valparaiso University, Ivy Tech Community College, NIPSCO, Porter Starke Services and The Times.