By Mary Parry, member of Book Harvest’s Authors’ Circle and Marketing and Development Committee
Last week, my daughter and I accepted a fun challenge. We signed up to take over The Triangle Kindness Project’s Instagram account for a day, brainstorming acts of kindness, then documenting our good deeds. Previous posts in the account feature families from Durham and Raleigh performing generous acts like rescuing a fledgling baby bird, showing appreciation to first responders, and offering a Starbucks barista enough money to cover coffee for the next few customers in line. It’s one of my favorite accounts to follow, offering daily, visual reminders that the Triangle is a place where kindness abounds.
It didn’t take long to devise our Instagram plan. We decided to go on a non-profit kindness expedition, making cookie drops around the Triangle as a small token of thanks for the important work non-profit organizations do and the many ways they make our community such a great place to live.
Deciding which non-profits to visit was the big challenge, with so many deserving organizations in our area. Our final kindness expedition took us to Book Harvest, Compass Center for Women and Families, and the Ronald McDonald House of Durham. Armed with fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies and a thank you card for each organization, we were greeted by smiles and hugs from staff at each location.
We chose to bestow kindness on local non-profit organizations because their tireless work is what fills gaps in our community. They fill opportunity gaps. They provide a helping hand to those in need. They offer a place where we can all come together to impact change for the issues we care about. They do this work every day for modest pay, because they care. In our view, they deserve chocolate chip cookies every day!
Thank you to every non-profit organization, including staff, boards, volunteers and donors working together to create the obvious undercurrent of kindness we have here in the Triangle. We appreciate you!
Mary Parry is a writer and literacy advocate with a passion for children’s books. She is a proud member of the Book Harvest Authors’ Circle and the Marketing and Development Committee. Mary and her family have lived in the Triangle for nearly 20 years. Follow Triangle Kindness Project on Instagram: @trianglekindnessproject