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LEAD Greater Williamsburg Class of 2019
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Matt Willams, LEAD 2019 President
“Imagine an entire city where everyone is just a little kinder, where they know our ethos … that we’re a city of kindness.”
–Tom Tait, former Mayor of Anaheim, California, who won election by a landslide running on a campaign of kindness.
Last September, 29 members of the Greater Williamsburg Chamber and Tourism Alliance’s LEAD Greater Williamsburg Class of 2019 tucked away at Chanco on the James, a wooded retreat center in neighboring Surry County with a picturesque view of the James River, for a two-day get away. Their objective: to contemplate their required class project and leave the grounds with a workable idea.
“We were put into work session and team building activities,” remembers class president Matt Williams, owner of Premier Home Appraisals. “Two of the work sessions at the retreat were to start to identify what our class may be interested in as a class project.”
Conversation ensued and sticky notes papered the wall until three ideas emerged: a kitchen for the Abram Frink Community Center, a water conservation program in partnership with James City County and a kindness initiative.
“We eliminated the water conservation part because it wasn’t tangible. We went through the process of the Abram Frink research and found out it wasn’t feasible because of the cost. So, we voted and went with the kindness campaign,” said Williams.
“The most overwhelming part that came out of the work session involved giving back and caring for people in the community.”
–Matt Williams
The Start of a Movement
Kindness isn’t something you erect like city-themed art sculptures or Little Free Libraries. It’s an inner warmth that must be transferred from one to another. The task of spreading this dopamine-boosting “helper’s high” to every corner of Greater Williamsburg was now on the shoulders of the LEAD Class of 2019, a group community engagement member Jessa Guinn called “the right group at the right time” for such an ambitious undertaking.
“We had a group where we utilized everyone’s strengths and connections,” Guinn said. “We had someone who worked for the Chamber and who knew how to run events. Jack [Wickens] had close contact with organizations that oversaw all the running in the community, and I work for the county. Everyone was in an organization that fully supported what we were doing.”
To get the kindness project off the ground, Guinn played a central role in herding internal communication to make it ready for public consumption.
“It was lot of internal conversation, keeping up with members and committees, putting together accurate communication to go out into the community,” she said.
With external communication centralized, the community engagement committee could put boots on the ground through extensive outreach to community leaders and business influencers. This involved a three-pronged approach: identifying candidates, making connections and bringing them together to excite them about the initiative.
“Most of what I did was around figuring out which community stakeholders to engage and the best way to communicate and engage with them,” shared Charvalla
West, who performs similar duties for the United Way, Virginia Peninsula. “I worked a lot of the behind the scenes organizational conversations to make sure we were all tethered to the same mission.”
“I created a huge database of leaders in our community within different sectors. We had hundreds of names of people who were influencers that could help spread our message,” said Michelle Alexander, a member of the community engagement committee and assistant professor for health sciences at Thomas Nelson Community College.
The committee’s outreach efforts yielded 400 businesses and nonprofit organizations that accepted the “Be Kind” pledge. A few of those included Busch Gardens, United Way, all three municipalities (James City County, York County, City of Williamsburg), LEAD Greater Williamsburg Class of 2017, Chesapeake Bank, Child Development Resource, Colonial Williamsburg and many others.
“How can you say ‘no’ to kindness?” said Alexander.
Energizing the Base
On February 1, 2019, the LEAD class held its Commit to Kindness kickoff event at Legacy Hall in New Town. The event drew 250 business owners and community leaders from around Greater Williamsburg in to get a taste of the complete vision of WmbgKind.
“It was a sold-out event, standing room only,” recalled Williams. “Mayor Tom Tait came from Anaheim, California, and was our keynote speaker. That event really put it out in the community.” United Way CEO and President Steven Kast also spoke and WHRO Executive Producer Barbara Hamm Lee emceed the event.
The event also served as a jumping off point to introduce Miles of Kindness, a series of one-mile races and a kindness walk to be held May 16, 2019, on Duke of Gloucester Street. The event would also host food trucks, family-friendly events and a concert put on by The Deloreans—an 80s show band—on the Art Museum of Colonial Williamsburg lawn.
In order to pull off this event, the first of its kind in Williamsburg, it required the know-how and savvy touch of the social media committee to excite the general public.
“We had a goal of getting 500 groups and organizations to commit to kindness. We got close, and we’re continuing to grow that number.”
–Michelle Alexander
Using Media to Galvanize the Community
At its inception, the group recognized the importance of social media. Guinn called it “one of the strongest aspects of the campaign.” The use of social media enabled the group to tell its own stories, share the stories of others, highlight businesses and organizations doing good deeds and become a hub for people to share their own kindness without feeling as though they’re self-promoting.
“Kindness is a concept that you do privately, and you don’t want to get the credit for doing something kind.
Social media allows us to shine that light and bring that positivity. We want our platform to highlight the kindness that’s going on in the Greater Williamsburg area,” said Alicia Phinney, who spearheaded the WmbgKind social media efforts.
WmbgKind’s social media has been well received by the public. People have engaged with social media posts, emailed and direct messaged their stories and the kind deeds of others to WmbgKind and have shared good news found on the group’s Facebook page on their own timelines. This led to more people pledging kindness on the group’s website and showing off their “Be Kind” swag online along with the hashtag #WmbgKind.
“I have to give credit to Jessica Wauhop and our social media folks; they nailed it,” said Williams. “We put a website up and then we started with marketing material—bumper sticker, stickers, clings. Once the social media got out there, it went nuts,” said Williams.
It was through that expert handling of marketing and social media that Miles of Kindness got its strongest boost.
Miles of Kindness
Riding the momentum gained from Commit to Kindness, Wickens and his LEAD Greater Williamsburg classmates turned their attention to Miles of Kindness, the grand celebration honoring the area’s committed do-gooders. Using a combination of Facebook,
Instagram, print media, email and word of mouth, word quickly spread about the event.
“We put flyers out, got a write up in the Virginian Gazette, and then people started signing up,” Wickens said.
“We were able to get the word out to hundreds, or even a few thousand people just through our contacts.”
On May 16, 2019, over 350 people took to DoG Street to participate in the event —individuals, families and groups of friends. Participants received a kindness t-shirt and a kindness medal. Seeing the event come to fruition was “very encouraging,” said Wickens.
“I think people received it not realizing something so simple could have such a big impact. I think there was a little bit of surprise.
–Charvalla West
Not Just a Flash in the Pan
You don’t have to look far to find the circular “Be Kind” stickers in Williamsburg. They’re on shop windows, food trucks, car bumpers and laptops across the area. That powerful two-word mantra, “Be Kind,” has inspired people in Williamsburg and beyond. “The timing was right for it,” said Robert Hershberger, LEAD
Williamsburg Program Coordinator. “It generates a good feeling and that’s something we need collectively.”
And though the class has graduated, many among them plan to continue to lift the banner of kindness and keep the project alive. They don’t want kindness to begin and end with them, but to live and spread through you!
“We’re going to continue the initiative and anyone in the community who wants to be a part of our group can join the campaign,” said Williams.
“We’re going to see where this goes.”
Want to become a WmbgKind ambassador?
Visit wmbgkind.org to learn more.