I was angry after the shooting in Newtown, like a majority of our country was. And then the bombings at the Boston Marathon happened. I kept asking myself, “What is happening to our country?” Even worse, what is it going to become? I looked at social media to see how the rest of the world was reacting. I wanted to know that I wasn’t alone in my feelings and I wanted to do something about it. Being angry wasn’t helping anyone. I quickly learned about a new movement that had been started by Ann Curry. In December, she took to Twitter to ask everyone to commit 26Acts of kindness to honor each life lost at Sandy Hook Elementary. From there, the hashtag “26Acts” was born. Since the bombings in April, a new hashtag has emerged as a continuation of this movement: “26Acts2”. Call it what you want, but the message is the same.

One of my favorite things about working at Visual Logic is the passion everyone has. Of course, we’re all passionate about different things. Some of us are interested in jumping out of planes and others the art of brewing the perfect latte. One thing we’re all interested in is helping others. Yes, that probably sounds cheesy but it’s the truth. It shouldn’t have surprised me how willing everyone was to jump on board with this movement, but it did. And I’m glad they did.

In May, we put a goal down on paper that said we, as a team, would commit to 26Acts of kindness by the end of the year. I’m proud to say we reached that goal and then some. Our “acts” ranged from designing and building a website for a non-profit organization to buying a little girl a pole and tackle and then teaching her how to fish. Someone bought dinner for a couple celebrating their 53rd anniversary and another bought basketballs for the area Boys & Girls Club. Some of these acts were organized, but many were not. The beauty of this movement is that the small, discrete things we can do for one another are often paid forward. Hopefully, one act goes on forever with many other to follow. That’s why I’m writing this post and why we’ve created the mural shown in these pictures. We’re hoping to inspire others to act, joining us as we continue sharing kindness well beyond our 26Acts.

A few of our 26Acts

This is the poster we used to keep track of our acts of kindness.

Run Like a Mother

North East Iowa Food Bank

Walnut Neighborhood Improvement Project

Walnut Neighborhood Improvement Project

Walnut Neighborhood Improvement Project

The Youth Art Team helped us put together a mural that illustrated the 26Acts and what it meant to them.