Random acts of kindness will be taking place in Gainesville this week.
Through Friday, the Freshman Leadership Council is hosting Project Smile Week, a new event that encourages people to perform random acts of kindness, said Maria Galindo, the council’s vice chair of public relations.
The 21-year-old UF journalism senior said Project Smile Week is for everyone.
“We want to see this smile spread,” Galindo said.
Mitchell Nielsen, director of special events, said his nine-person committee hosts about six events each year, but with room on the calendar, they had the opportunity to add something new.
The 19-year-old UF information systems and operations management sophomore said his committee was inspired by random acts of kindness seen on Vine, a smartphone application for six-second videos. Nielson said Project Smile Week is something the council has never done before, but he hopes it will become a tradition.
“We need to take a week to just kind of stop and appreciate the fact that we are here, and the people around us are really great,” he said.
The committee also plans to pass out notes with snacks — two at a time — to people around campus with the idea that the recipient will pass the second treat on, Nielsen said.
He said being involved in the smile initiative is easy, and it doesn’t cost anything for students to participate.
Nielson said council members are encouraging people to post about the random acts of kindness on Twitter, Vine, Facebook and Instagram with the hashtag #smileUF.
Galindo said the council is working with other UF departments on a surprise for the person that Nielsen’s committee feels really understands the idea behind the week.
“If one person is inspired to make another person smile, then I think that would be successful,” she said.
U Matter, We Care, an on-campus initiative to aid those in distress in the UF community, is co-sponsoring the event.
Seth Drashinsky, an 18-year-old UF accounting freshman, said although he tries to perform random acts of kindness every day, he thinks this event might inspire others to actually go out of their way.
“If you say, like, one nice thing to a person, it could change their day,” he said. “It could change their week. It could change their life. You just never know.”
A version of this story ran on page 8 on 11/20/2013 under the headline "Freshman Leadership Council spreads pre-Thanksgiving kindness"
