The Tweens Spending Their Summer Spreading Random Acts of Kindness

A pair of middle school kids are making it their mission to spread a little bit of kindness in their hometown of Cedar Rapids, according to the Iowa newspaper The Gazette. In late June, 12-year-olds Regan Murphy and Simon Osako organized friends and family to help spread random acts of kindness throughout town by making 225 “magic wands” that they left at playgrounds, parks, public pools, and coffee shops around the city for other kids to find.

The instructions: If you find a wand, do something nice for someone else, whether it’s offering a postal worker a glass of water on a hot day, collecting litter, donating to a local food bank, or volunteering to help a neighbor. Then pass the wand on for someone else to pick up.

The goal is to inspire at least 1000 acts of kindness by August 11. Murphy and Osako encourage supporters to post their charitable acts to social media, where the Kindness is Magic team will share them to Facebook and Instagram. (Their parents help them manage the social media accounts.)

Every Monday, the kids also plan to share a different prompt to social media, so that people who haven’t yet found a wand can participate. They’re also encouraging others to make even more wands to spread the magic around town.

While the project is designed to end once the school year starts up again, Murphy and Osako hope to pick it up again next summer. “It’s so much fun,” as Murphy told The Gazette.

[h/t The Gazette]