Katie Perez '15 launched the effort to help promote acts of kindness within the community.
Her newsfeed was inundated with negativity, hate and divisiveness. But rather than sit and complain about it, Katie Perez ’15 decided to get up and actively work to make a change.
The result is High Five to Kindness, a challenge to people to give back to their communities and spread kindness, rather than hate. It was inspired in part by the viral success of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, which Perez hopes will serve as a model for her own effort.
“Very candidly, there was a lot of build up that brought me to this,” said Perez, an accounting major who is now a finance associate at Duke Energy. She listed the fighting on social media, the riots only a block away from her home in Charlotte, and negativity in general as a result of the presidential election. The hatred those events caused across the country was worrying to her, and seemed to be getting worse.
All of it combined to build to a breaking point. “At one point, I was just like, ‘what am I doing? Why am I complaining about this? If I’m passionate about certain things, I can do something,’” Perez said. She wanted to be someone who did something about it, rather than just complain.
The project asks participants to carry out an act of kindness. It can be anything, from feeding the homeless—a cause close to Perez’s heart—to donating clothes to the local Goodwill. Afterward, the participant should write the act on the palm of their hand, and post a photo of it to social media. Perez has highlighted her own efforts and those of others through an Instagram account, and asks those participating to use the hashtag #highfivetokindness to help boost the effort.
The high five, Perez said, has a special significance to her. Not only is it a symbol of celebration, but it’s also a very vulnerable position. “I feel like a lot of people are scared to take action, and it can be a very vulnerable thing to do,” Perez said, but hopes that participants can move past that. “You’re giving yourself to something bigger than just yourself.”
Perez noted that while our society can be very self-centered, her hope is that this initiative will help to change that. “I’m hoping it creates a ripple effect of spreading kindness and creating change,” she said. It’s not just about me, or you, it’s about everyone—so I want everyone to get involved.”
Those interested in participating can find more information at highfivetokindness.com.