Nature of Kindness

If you ask anyone about the impact of COVID-19 in their lives, they will have a story to tell. Nature of Kindness is mine.

I was a high schooler at the pandemic's peak, and among my peers, COVID-19 was yet another stressor on top of the academic, social, and political tensions dominating our lives. I found that acts of kindness were becoming increasingly more difficult to perform. Yet, in a time defined by struggle and loss, kindness had never been more important— both to others and to our planet.

That same semester, my Business & Finance teacher challenged me to submit a business proposal to the thinkBIG! Summit, a regional competition run by the Veale Foundation for Northeast Ohio high schoolers. With an inkling of an idea in my mind, it wasn't long before I came up with Nature of Kindness: a nonprofit that spread kindness to people & the planet through eco-friendly kindness packages. With the support of my business partner, we won thinkBIG! and were awarded a grant to help with start-up costs.

By April 2022, we had sold over 100 packages and raised $2,500 to support grassroots environmental and anti-bullying initiatives. We also launched a blog series to document kind acts across North America, interviewing eight inspiring organizations and individuals between October and December 2021 to cultivate a network of like-minded change-makers.

Our work was featured by WKYC-TV, the Northeast Ohio Parent ("Kindness Counts," February 2021 cover story), and the Cleveland Leadership Center's Accelerate, a teen entrepeneur showcase. The Values-in-Action Foundation awarded our team their annual Eric Scott Russell Student Kindness Award for our work spreading kindness across the Cleveland community.