A well-known metro Detroit nonprofit’s latest initiative is a pilot program called Highland Kindness, based in Oakland County's Highland Township. The project involves city-wide participation from schools, churches, community leaders, and residents, committing to doing small acts of kindness every day.
“Everybody should be safe, valued, and loved,” says 82-year-old philanthropist Jim Tuman. He doesn't just talk the talk though. Turman established Jimmy’s Kids, a nonprofit that is celebrating its 35
th anniversary assisting families in the metro Detroit area.
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Jim Turman. Photo supplied.
Tuman drew inspiration for Highland Kindness when he spoke to 12,000 students and families at Michigan State University in 2014. He asked listeners to pledge to 26 Days of Kindness where they performed small acts of compassion for people in their lives. The students took the pledge to Facebook and Twitter where it went viral and resulted in more than 10,000 posts relating how these acts affected the students, helped others, and created positivity in their lives.
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The Highland program was conceived in late July, and is focusing on Highland Township, a community of 20,000 residents north of Brighton. The launch date was on November 20 at Wee Friends Child Care & Learning Center, and a banner that will hang on Milford Road, just south of M-59, was unveiled. Organizers hope the banner will remind residents to practice kindness and to continue to share their stories on Facebook at #highlandkindness.
Highland Township Clerk Tami Flowers has been working with the project organizers since its inception. “The concept is simple," says Flowers. "If you see a kind act like someone changing a tire for a stranger, or someone buys you a cup of coffee or someone lets you into traffic, we ask you to share the event on our Facebook page #highlandkindness. We knew people were seeing and experiencing acts of kindness every day and now we are sharing those actions with everyone.”
To reach as many residents of the community as possible, the biggest challenge for the project, businesses are displaying Kindness posters at their shops and handing out flyers to their customers. They have also started kindness programs for their employees. Schools are rallying student leadership to incorporate kindness projects into middle and elementary schools. Brenda Dunseth, Director of the Highland Library is involved and donated kindness books to be read at eight Highland preschools. She would also like to create a kindness Lego project and have an essay contest. The Huron Valley Council of the Arts created a kindness project for local children.
Steven Suser, a 23-year resident of the area and owner of Sparkies Kitchen & Bar, is an active participant in the program. “I have seen and continue to see random acts of kindness from a lot of different people and places," says Suser.
"I think the idea is that this becomes contagious in almost all areas of our lives. I think it is a very needed idea to initiate/organize in our community and am happy to have our company involved as it evolves.”
To gauge the success of Highland Kindness, organizers will be monitoring the Highland Kindness Facebook page for posts by residents sharing their stories of kindness and receiving feedback from the community leaders. They hope the campaign will go viral as the 26 Days did and will encourage more people to participate in kindness acts such as sending someone flowers or complimenting the first three people they talked to that day.
If the Highland Project is successful, Tuman hopes to bring the structure of the initiative to other cities, including Detroit. The organizers are willing to share what they learned and help in any way other communities who wish to mimic the program. They believe that grassroots initiatives on a local level are key to success.
Tuman's biggest project, Jimmy’s Kids, is based in metro Detroit and heading into its busiest season throughout the holidays. The nonprofit's signature program is "Christmas Morning", where over 2,000 volunteers deliver presents to area families and kids. The goal for 2023 is to help over 25,000 kids. Each year, requests from schools, hospitals, churches, and community organizations pour in and Tuman wants children impacted by circumstances out of their control to still have a present to unwrap.
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