On Nov. 15, the Do Anything Nice Club (DAN) hosted a Hug Station Day in the Campus Center. Members gathered with self-made signs that read “Hug me,” and within two hours, 545 hugs were shared between members of the Ithaca College community. There were “smile hugs,” “twirl hugs” and hugs passed on by inspired participants. It was part of DAN’s mission to spread random acts of kindness, foster community spirit, promote leadership and dedicate themselves to the “little things in life.”

DAN’s adventure began six years ago in a high school in Verona, N.J. At that time, a group of seniors organized a mission to put candy in every student’s locker during the evening hours, when they knew no one would be in the building. It was a simple act of kindness and they were successful. In every locker there was candy, a note that read “DAN was here” and an inspirational story about kindness.

Later, in 2001, the students organized DAN’s first formal meeting, and more than 100 high school students participated. It soon became a tradition at the school that after each year, leadership of the club was passed down to two upcoming seniors. In time, random acts of kindness become part of the character of all participating students. In 2004 I became a leader of the club, and later when I came to college, I decided to open a chapter of DAN here as well.

Since then, we have launched programs such as DAN America and DAN International. As part of this, there is an outreach program to develop new chapter at other schools. There is even an international division we work with, which I established at the University of Istituto Europeo, in Italy. With them, we hope to break down social customs and transcend cultural barriers by catching people off guard with unexpected acts of kindness that bond us together in friendship.

Often after we spread kindness, people ask, “But what do I have to do for you?” The response is always the same. Nothing. Simply smile and pass the kindness on.

I did not know it when I established DAN here, but there is already an international movement of kindness spreading throughout the world. It began in 1996 when a small kindness movement took place in Japan. During the next several years, like-minded individuals from other nations gathered to discuss an international movement. Finally, on Nov. 18, 2000, in Singapore, the official World Kindness Movement was founded. Organizations from 18 countries are involved in the movement, including Random Act of Kindness, which is based in the U.S.

With each person who passes on a simple act of kindness, the movement continues to grow. It is a simple mission empowered by the creativity of the human spirit. It stemmed from a single moment of compassion, conducted by students, and its spark ignited a beacon of kindness.

Everyone possesses the ability to bring happiness to those around them, whether to a friend, family member or stranger. What we must recognize is that there is power in words, and we need to let them grow from our hearts to become all they were intended to be.

The upcoming holiday season is the perfect time to spread kindness. So be spontaneous and secretly buy the person behind you in line a coffee, leave a kind note for a friend to see or simply share a smile to brighten someone’s day.Above all, always remember that no act of kindness is too small and no dream can ever be too big.

Mike Unis is a sophomore applied psychology major and the president of DAN. E-mail
him at munis1@ithaca.edu.