Earlier this month, Dickinson’s Random Acts of Kindness Club put together the Kindness Challenge, a series of events in coordination with other campus organizations from April 3-7, all pertaining to the topic of love, kindness, and bettering our community.

The Women’s and Gender Resource Center was one of the many organizations to collaborate on the Kindness Challenge. Our student workers came up with a board, placed at the top of the HUB stairs, where students could acknowledge the women who have inspired them to be kind in life. We named the project “Comrades in Kindness,” inspired by bell hooks’ article titled, “Men: Comrades in Struggle,” which discusses challenges faced in feminist allyship.

We asked students, “What women in your life have inspired you to be kind? Why?” Their answers were varied and beautiful. Some included:

“My grandmother (civil rights and aging activist), my mother, two sisters (lawyer and PhD), and my beautiful, fierce niece.”

“Definitely my mom! She is so kind and caring and the best listener I know. I always strive to be like her!”

“My aunt is the primary reason I am a kind and caring person. Since youth, she has shown me what it means to be a positive person in someone’s life regardless if I know them or not.”

“My friends, they are so strong and inspiring.”

“My mother. Her favorite thing to say is ‘You don’t give expecting to get something in return; that defeats the purpose of giving.’”

We want to thank the Random Acts of Kindness Club for giving us the opportunity to be a part of the Kindness Challenge. We hope “Comrades in Kindness” inspired students to spread the compassion taught to them by the amazing women in their lives.

Written by Ella Wiley ’18, WGRC student worker