ORDER-2020-44 : A Resolution in Support of the 4th Annual Melrose Random Acts of Kindness Day on Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Transcript (~14 min @ 42:29)

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▶ 42:27 Speaker 8: 20-44 a resolution in support of the fourth annual Melrose random acts of kindness day on Wednesday November 20th 2019 Thank You mr. president I'd like to

▶ 42:39 Michael P. Zwirko: seek immediate consideration of this order

▶ 42:42 Scott M. Forbes: councillors work goes seeking immediate consideration is there any objections

▶ 42:49 Michael P. Zwirko: counselors worker you may continue Thank You mr. president before we went on recess we suspended the rules I would understand that we're still under suspension yes we are I would ask at this time given that we're under suspension of the rules if I could approach the podium with two guests that

▶ 43:22 Michael P. Zwirko: have here this evening yes you may so thank you everyone um this evening um i sponsored the order to for this resolution on behalf of the random acts of kindness day which was begun by maribeth darwin here on my right and before i get into reading the resolution and we have a few words i just wanted to say that when i first heard about this i was really pleased that the community was doing something like this and it brought me back to one one event I was in college and I was driving and as many people know I'm from Western Massachusetts and I went to college in Maine so I had about a six and a half hour drive ahead of me and I got to the Portland tolls and this was in the late 90s and this is when you actually still had to pay for your tolls with coins and the car in front of me had paid my toll so when I got up to the gate I kind of looked at the toll clerk and they kind of waved me through and I'll never forget that right it happened like 20 years ago but it was a really cool moment and it was something that I just appreciated that somebody just in front of me didn't know me didn't know who I was paid my dollar toll on the Portland Turnpike in Maine on my way to college and and that's kind of paying it forward right and I try to do the same I don't do it all the time but sometimes I'm in the line at Starbucks or a local cafe and I'll leave my debit card there for the next person to get a coffee on my dime or whatnot and you know it you don't know where people are in their lives you don't know what happened to them that day if they're in a good mood a bad mood or indifferent and that random act of kindness can really go a long way and here we are 20 years later and I remember the moment when someone paid a dollar for my toll and a main turnpike so it is important so with that let me read the resolution and then we'll get to some some remarks here this evening whereas Melrose random acts of kindness day was created by a dedicated group of Melrose residents who are engaged in our various PTOs and civic organizations as well as local businesses committed to living up to our city's motto of one community open to all and whereas the purpose of melrose acts of random kindness day excuse me melrose random acts of kindness day is to celebrate kindness with random acts of kindness performed by individuals businesses schools and organizations throughout our community and beyond and whereas the melrose random acts of kindness day started in 2015 as a social media campaign to encourage random acts of kindness on this day has grown bigger each year and it is held annually on november 20th to recognize this date and a date that should be filled with kindness instead of violent acts or acts of transgression whereas the melrose random acts of kindness day has grown larger each year and continues to grow to be a positive outlet for our community the first year began on facebook and invited others to join the second year a banner was hung over main street to bring about more awareness the third year it included kindness posters warrior stickers and kindness cards and this year is its fourth year whereas practicing random acts of kindness help improve someone's day and remind others that love is the most powerful force in the universe in a world where kindness seems to dwindle it is important to remind ourselves and others that people care and we are all in this life together and therefore that we the melrose city council have approved this resolution in support of the fourth annual melrose random acts of kindness day on wednesday november 20th 2019 and further pledged to practice random acts of kindness and spread goodwill towards others that this day on the 18th day of november in the year of 2019 a copy of this resolution be spread upon the records of the city

▶ 46:53 Speaker 11: council thank you i just wanted to give a few comments about the day so thanks to mike for putting this resolution forth and to everyone on the city council for practicing kindness every day none of your jobs are easy and we appreciate you doing them stephanie and i are i should say stephanie is my co-sponsor of miller's random acts of kindness day stephanie nelson and she and i are grateful to be here to increase visibility of the day that is so near and dear to our hearts november 20th is our fourth annual celebration of kindness we're asking everyone in the community to practice random kindness throughout the day it's as easy as buying someone a cup of coffee holding the door giving up a parking space or complimenting a stranger being kind strengthens the soul not just of individuals but of a community our city is stronger because of the kindness we share so we brought cookies

▶ 47:49 Speaker 11: because any meeting scheduled for 7 45 and going on as late as this one already has

▶ 47:59 Speaker 11: on a monday always have cookies so we'd like you to take one and pass it on thereby um kicking off kindness right here in this room two days before the big event

▶ 48:07 Speaker 2: we're also distributing kindness warrior stickers when you wear yours on november 20th you'll be easily identified as a kindness warrior or a superhero and if you're wondering about your superpower it's right here with the kindness cards so the kindness card was created and the language says you've just received a random act of kindness now it's your turn do something kind and unexpected for someone and leave this card when you do it will make you feel good when you

▶ 48:40 Speaker 2: surprise your kindness target use this card you can tell them if you don't feel comfortable you can you know just pass the card and have it hopefully pass along merchants throughout our city educators and our service organizations are ready to go with their stickers and cards you'll also see kindness posters displayed in all of the window fronts uh downtown a quick shout out to our Glenn Blackburn who's a Winthrop father and he donated his time to come up with all of this artwork so we appreciate it Glenn so what will happen

▶ 49:13 Speaker 11: on Wednesday well more kindness than you can imagine we've heard so many wonderful stories over the years from the PTO that provides note card delivery giving kids the opportunity to anonymously celebrate kindness through school mail service to the downtown florist who hides bouquets throughout the city so that random people can find them enjoy them and then pass them along last year someone visiting melrose trekked to the chamber of commerce and presented cookies we heard about the day the visitor said and we wanted to do something for you each year the ymca randomly presents a visitor with a free months membership this year the Melrose ed foundation plans to surprise the library with a showering of kindness it's all pretty cool one of our favorite

▶ 50:04 Speaker 2: stories is a Melrose resident named Kathy who had been contemplating what to do on random acts of kindness last year she went to Shaw's plan to make a donation to a family in need with their giving tree during checkout Sharon the customer service manager gave Kathy a $25 gift card. And her response was, I'm here to pay it forward, not to get an act of kindness. So she then took the value of that card and gave it to the Salvation Army person at the door. In return, she received a wide smile and exuberant thank you. Feeling all sorts of warm and fuzzy, she went to Dunkin' Donuts, got a box of Joe and a dozen donuts, and decided to go to Tom's Golf on Upham Street because they've helped her out with her car a number of times well when she arrived she found out that they had already received a box of joe and a dozen donuts as part of random acts of kindness day earlier in the day but tom said we so appreciate the gesture let me fill up your tank and she said she keeps finding herself trying to go out and do something additionally so i imagine kathy slept well last night as all of

▶ 51:13 Speaker 11: our kindness warriors do so how can you help well we're just looking for you to kind it up we'd love to see the city council as one unit celebrate kindness by showering another organization in our city with love make a joint donation to melrose grad night send flowers the melrose alliance against violence by lunch for city hall this year we'll have a mural in the ymca courtyard the mural is a way for you to show that you are the i in kind so you stand in for the letter i there's a large k then there's a space then there's an n and a d you stand where the i is and you hold a white board that tells us what you did to be kind that day chris rodolico of all your art has generously donated her time to create the mural and we'd love for everyone in this room to stop by in the ymca courtyard during the day on wednesday to show us how you embrace

▶ 52:07 Speaker 2: kindness we encourage you to engage as many businesses in melrose as you can so many of them have surprises planned for throughout the day starbucks will display a poster of 100 ways to be kind the mayor's blog will send that to julie nolan has promised to have her pub table in front of the melrose post office i love this offering free coffee free hugs and advice if anybody needs advice she'll top another example is tapas gave out free appetizers and surprised a couple of diners with complimentary dinners buccaloos has promised to surprise residents at a local retirement home with a lot of delicious goodies and our schools are also extremely supportive and have embraced the idea they're excited to get in on the fun we've encouraged these children to maybe sit with somebody new at lunch or compliment a classmates work play with a new friend at recess or give up the coveted first line in spot first spot in the line in the morning what is it about the children leading us if we watch them they will so look for us tomorrow we'll

▶ 53:13 Speaker 11: be on let's talk Melrose Melrose we've also done segments of the Julie Nolan show and the Melrose scoop follow us on social media look for us look for the Melrose Kind page on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. The SDM Foundation told us how to do that, thereby being kind early. You can post photos, videos, and stories on our Facebook page or send them to our email address, melroserak at gmail.com. Look for the Melrose Random Acts of Kindness Facebook event and indicate that you are going. A Melrose company, the Video Creators lounge has offered to put together a video of kindness that occurs on wednesday so it's really important that we get tons of feedback about the day we also have plans to continue spreading kindness throughout the year one way we'll do this is is with our wednesday kindness warrior social media post each wednesday we'll post on facebook instagram and twitter a short profile of a particularly kind Melrosian. Some of our most popular kindness warriors to date are Scarlett, a 13 year old with a passion to save African elephants, Joel who corrals shopping carts at Shaw's while singing Christmas carols year-round, and Jenny who we call the dog whisperer because of her passion for rescuing runaway pups. If you know a warrior we should feature please let us know. So

▶ 54:43 Speaker 2: thank you for having us to speak this evening and for this kindness resolution we are continuously amazed by the reception that we get throughout melrose when we talk about november 20th and the day proving once again that our community is more than just kind for melrose kind thank you

▶ 55:09 Speaker 11: this also shows um where you can um post on facebook so i just thought i just made those

▶ 55:18 Michael P. Zwirko: for everyone all right mr. president we could have a brief recess motion for

▶ 55:21 Speaker 1: recess second