Kind30

Acts of Kindness: Kind30 founder Beth Abernathy, far right, with Selig Enterprises employees at the company’s 30-day challenge kickoff in May. Photo credit: Contributed

It started with a single candy bar. Now it is a viral movement. You may have seen the hashtag trending: #Kind30.

While paying for her groceries, Beth Abernathy bought some chocolate and handed it to her cashier. It was a good feeling, putting an unexpected smile on someone’s face. Then she came across compelling sociological research on the epidemic of loneliness and isolation.

“Even the smallest interactions have profound ripple effects,” she says. “There is irrefutable data that proves when you extend, receive or even witness an act of kindness, it improves your mental health.”

Moreover, if you practice a gesture for 30 days, it becomes a habit. And habits become lifestyles.

So in 2024, Abernathy, who lives in Atlanta, founded a nonprofit dedicated to spreading uplift and called it Kind30.

“We’re not backed by any business, political organization or religious entity,” she says. “We seek to improve mental health by promoting intentional kindness through our 30-day challenge designed for everyone from ages 3 to 103.”

The organization has devised a detailed regimen, providing materials (pre-filled calendars, stickers, posters, fact sheets and leader guides) in four areas of operation: workplace, school, faith community and individual/family/group/club.

“For businesses, we have notecards that enable you to leave a compliment for a coworker,” she says. “We even have pickleball groups doing it.”

All materials are free – and always will be, Abernathy says, with a smile.

Corporations such as Delta Air Lines, The Home Depot and Equifax have signed on, along with several schools, including The Westminster Schools, Pace Academy and Trinity School in Atlanta.

But the impact goes beyond Georgia. Dartmouth College in New Hampshire is one of the first colleges in the country to embrace the movement.