A social media campaign called "26 Acts of Kindness" was started after the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut on December 14, 2012. The campaign grew with both a Facebook and Twitter presence. It's intention was for people everywhere to do 26 random acts of kindness to honor each of the victims of the Sandy Hook tragedy.
Ann Curry, a correspondent with NBC News, asked herself "What Can I do?" after the tragedy and started the campaign on Twitter using the hashtags #20Acts and #26Acts (Source). Here is one of the first tweets that got the campaign started.
Imagine if all of us committed to 20 mitvahs/acts of kindness to honor each child lost in Newtown. I'm in. If you are RT #20Acts
— Ann Curry (@AnnCurry) December 16, 2012
The campaign initially started to honor the 20 children who died at Sandy Hook Elementary but it was changed to 26 Acts of Kindness to include the 6 administrators and teachers who also lost their lives. It quickly spread as people tweeted @AnnCurry with descriptions of how they were serving others. #26Acts eventually was trending on Twitter.
Here is a video where Ann Curry shares the origins of the 26 Acts of Kindness campaign.
Warren Allen Tidwell, an auto parts salesman from Auburn, Alabama independently started a Facebook page called 26 Acts of Kindness to promote the honor the Sandy Hook victims and allow people to share their acts of kindness on Facebook (Source). Tidwell's Facebook page experienced tremendous growth after Ann Curry announced her similar idea on Twitter and he handed the administration of the page over to NBC after 1,000 likes were reached (Source). There are now over 100,000 likes to the 26 Acts of Kindness Facebook page and it forms a dynamic social media duo along with Ann Curry's #26Acts endeavors on Twitter.
The 26 Acts of Kindness Facebook page says in its description:
Newton's heartbreak has a lot of us asking, "What can I do?" Thinking about this, Ann Curry took to twitter and Warren Alan Tidwell took to facebook to ask everyone to commit to 26 Acts of Kindness to honor each life lost at Sandy Hook Elementary. NBC has joined forces with a grassroots effort by dedicated, good individuals. In the new media age NBC used their platform to promote an idea, based in decent humanity, to help drive an unprecedented effort of random and intentional acts of kindness. Are you in?
Here is a news video of Warren Allen Tidwell and his Facebook page 26 Acts of Kindness.
If you haven't joined the cause yet you can follow 26 Acts of Kindness at the following social media areas.
Even though it has been 6 months since the Sandy Hook Tragedy, the 26 Acts of Kindness continues to be a way to honor those who were lost and help with the greater good in communities across the world.
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