February is Columbus Kindness Month

Kelley Griesmer and Matthew Goldstein

February is the month everyone celebrates their love towards a special someone, but leaders at the Columbus Foundation and Besa want to celebrate their love of everyone.

Kelley Griesmer, VP Special Projects & Manager at The Columbus Foundation and Matthew Goldstein, Executive Director of Besa, with their prospective teams spearheaded felt that the National Acts of Kindness Day (February 17th) needed to be a whole month, so they dug into their resources and out came Columbus Kindness Month.

“We wanted people to give kindness and give back to themselves and other people,” said Goldstein. Goldstein said that the month and its initiatives are meant to propel people into kindness – sort of like a domino effect of good deeds.

In addition to flooding social media with #givekindnesscolumbus, business participants in the Month of Kindness will donate proceeds from their sales to charities in need such as:

Homage will sell limited-edition “Give Kindness” T-shirts beginning Feb. 17, and all proceeds will benefit charity.

The Nina West Fund, Homage, Sherman & Hiteshew Interior Design, Gifts of Kindness and Besa will team to produce a $30,000 makeover of the Dress for Success Columbus fitting rooms.
A clothing drive for Volunteers of America, which recently lost 225,000 pounds of clothing in a devastating warehouse fire, will be held.
Volunteers will complete several projects throughout the month, from crafting art projects with senior citizens to writing notes of love on coffee cups that strangers will receive.
For every act of kindness shared with the #givekindnesscolumbus hashtag, Re:work Furnishings will donate a handmade keychain to a family emerging from poverty into a new home.

Other big names celebrating the spirit of kindness include Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, Hot Chicken Takeover, and Mikey’s Late Night Slice.

In the end, Columbus Kindness Month is about showing the world that, “these are our roots. It doesn’t mean everyone agrees, it just means that we find value in coexisting,” said Griesmer.

For more information, visit the Columbus Kindness Month blog here.

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