The Office of Community Engagement at EWU hosted the 4th Annual Days of Kindness in remembrance of the 26 lives lost in the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting. For seven days, from Feb. 16-22, EWU students and faculty can engage in acts of kindness around campus.

Aunja Norland, EWU Volunteer Program Coordinator, was in charge of the event for two years. She encouraged students to get involved since kindness acts will still be accepted the week after the annual days of kindness.

Each year the goal increases. In 2013, 947 students and faculty reached 3,181 acts of kindness and in 2014 the campus doubled that.

“We are hoping to get 12,000 acts of kindness done by 1,500 participants, which is roughly eight acts of kindness per person,” said Norland. “To show that even in our crazy world that there is this ray of hope and how just a little act of kindness can make someone’s day.”

To kick off the event on Feb. 16, students and faculty handed out balloons attached with acts of kindness challenges. These challenges encouraged students to perform an act of kindness such as giving a random person a compliment or buying someone their coffee.

On Feb. 17, a TED Talk-style lecture was hosted by Russell Kolts, Ph.D, who is an EWU psychology professor. “The Power of Compassion: An Afternoon with Dr. Russell Kolts” covered Kolts’ research and findings on compassion and the importance of being kind to ourselves.

The Mobile Food Bank took place on Feb. 18 at Cheney High School. This charity provided 2,000 pounds of nutritious food to families in need, with help from Second Harvest and Cheney High School.

The second annual Conversation Couch took place on Feb. 19 in the PUB Piano Lounge. This event welcomed students to come with a friend to sit on a couch while choosing topics to discuss by spinning a wheel. Some topics on the wheel included hope, compassion and love.

The last event for the Annual Days of Kindness was Bags to Mats. Students and faculty brought their plastic bags to Dressler Hall so they could make them into a mat for the homeless.

Throughout the week Norland’s leadership team went into Cheney School District and planned events based around the annual days of kindness for students K-12.

“Days of Kindness is my absolute favorite event that the Office of Community Engagement puts on, mostly because the background of this event is beautiful,” EWU junior Meagan Snively said.

Snively is an Eagle Volunteer Leader and led a group of EWU students at Windsor Elementary. On Feb. 19 Snively and the students gave the teachers some appreciation by tracing out their hands and putting encouraging notes on them.

“This is one of my favorite events throughout the year,” said Norland. “Students get so involved.”

Students can submit their act of kindness on the 2016 Days of Kindness OrgSync webpage.