For Richmonder Patience Salgado, kindness isn’t just a one-time act – it’s a life-long mission to do for others.
It’s something she learned from her mother and sister, and something she’s practiced all of her life.
But Patience Salgado is a 21st century girl, and thanks to tools like blogging and social media, she was able to take her acts of kindness viral, winning notice from the publication from the Queen of all things kindness and great – O, The Oprah Magazine.
It’s a story that’s only possible in the 21st century.
In 2007, Salgado launched her blog "Kindness Girl," dedicated to stories about her life and kids and, ultimately, the random acts of kindness she practiced on a regular basis.
It started with her honoring the anniversary of a friend’s death – Salgado sprinkled Starbucks gift cards all over the city to celebrate the coffee-lover. She blogged about it, and the response was great.
In fact, it inspired what the Kindness Girl calls Guerrilla Goodness – the act of doing random acts of kindness for strangers. Things like, Ding Dong Ditch (leaving a treat like flowers or chocolates on a stranger’s door, ringing the bell and running away) and you are loveable… (leaving a love for a stranger to find in a book or on a public sign).
But Salgado didn’t stop there. She took Guerrilla Goodness and made it into a Mission, encouraging her readers and followers to play along, in Richmond and beyond.
In the process, her kindness started getting a lot of attention, so when a Twitter follower and Tweeter friend of @kindnessgirl heard that a local writer was looking for people to profile in a national magazine she shared the name, and the story.
Salgado didn’t know which magazine she’d be profiled in until the folks at "O" called her looking for a picture (she of course called on friend and fellow Tweeter, Meghan McSweeney to take the shot).
"I’m excited about what O can bring," Salgado says. "I don’t want to be just a nice lady who does nice things; I want people to know the power of this. We all need to give [kindness] and we all need to receive it."
Salgado is already working on the next mission, which she plans to launch on Thursday. Check out her blog, Kindness Girl, for more details – and pick up a copy of O, The Oprah Magazine – on newsstands now.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement