Area campaign prompts random acts of kindness to mark 150th

Local Laundry, a Calgary clothing business, is challenging Calgarians to complete random acts of kindness in celebration of Canada 150.

Through their Travelling Sweater Campaign, every 72 hours a Calgarian receives a Local Laundry sweater with the YYC logo. The recipient, who is nominated by the person before them, takes over the business’s Instagram story, documenting where they are in the city, who they are and what they do, as well as their acts of kindness.

The idea came to Kathleen Smiley, community relations manager at Local Laundry, in January. She had the idea of one sweater moving around that told the story of each person wearing it. Her boyfriend suggested the recipient should also conduct random acts of kindness.

“That’s what Local Laundry is all about, helping communities and inspiring one another, there’s really no better way to do that than random acts of kindness,” said Smiley.

The campaign is in congruence to the business’s foundation of giving back to the community, where every month they donate 10 per cent of all profits to a local charity.

The sweater has been travelling for more than a month and on Monday, the 14th person will receive it. There have been at least 90 acts of kindness so far; Local Laundry is well on its way to the goal of 150.

Such acts of kindness have included writing love notes and placing them on people’s cars, paying for other people’s parking and buying coffee or meals for someone else, donating books to the Little Free Libraries, among many others.

One of Smiley’s favourite acts was when someone who had the travelling sweater gave flowers to a couple standing outside of Blush Lane. They were touched by the kind gesture because it turned out their son had recently died.

“People have been doing 10 to 15 acts of kindness and have been wanting to up the ante every single time,” said Smiley. “I didn’t expect people to respond the way they have, which is incredible.”

The overwhelming response has prompted Local Laundry to work on a YEG logo travelling sweater campaign in Edmonton. In the next week, they will be launching the “Canada Edition” by sending sweaters to an ambassador in Vancouver, Toronto and Halifax.

“We initially thought we were going to have an end point, but because it’s gained more traction that we thought, we’re not going to let this stop,” said Smiley. “Even if we surpass 150 random acts of kindness, we’re going to let it keep going and keep it living on its own as long as we can.”