Spreading kindness one rock at a time
Published 9:05 am Wednesday, September 5, 2018
- People will begin seeing kindness rocks around Austin and are encouraged to replace with their own rock and simply place the collected rock elsewhere for people to pick up. Photos by Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
Despite gloomy weather, Austin residents are looking to spread a little sunshine with no stone left unturned.
For this week, Ameriprise Financial will host “Kindness Rocks,” an event that caters to helping Austin residents spread kindness throughout the city via painted words of encouragement on stones or inspirational quotes.
Tuesday morning was the beginning of what Abby Heimer, Ameriprise marketing manager, hoped would be an annual event.
Amanda Sayles and Matt Cano take time out of their work day at Amerprise to paint their own kindness rocks Tuesday afternoon.
“People can come to our office, and paint the rocks and write words of kindness or words of encouragement,” Heimer explained. “People can place them throughout the community in needing some cheering up.
“There’s plenty of options, so we hope people can come out and participate.”
Sessions take place during regular business hours from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. (although Ameriprise closes at 5 p.m.) and attendees are supplied with painting supplies and the rocks themselves at the Ameriprise Financial office at 329 N. Main St. Suite 201 and will continue through Friday.
Ameriprise had ordered 1,000 stones for the event, and 825 of them were expected to be delivered to IJ Holton Intermediate School on Thursday and Friday for students to have the chance to paint some rocks.
Abby Heimer of Ameriprise places a kindness rock on a flower basket along Main Street Tuesday afternoon.
If the event is successful, Heimer anticipates the rock painting would take place toward the beginning of next summer.
The event is free to the public, and participants don’t have to be Ameriprise clients or in a specific age group to paint rocks.
What Heimer does request is that if someone paints a rock and places it in Austin, to post a photo of it on social media with the hashtag “#wmsaustin,” and also continue to pick up a rock, replace it with another and then relocate a rock to another place in Austin.
“We thought it was a cool idea that we haven’t seen in Austin yet,” Heimer said. “We thought, hopefully, this would be the kickstarter for it. Some people have come in and done a few rocks and placed them around town, too. We thought it was a neat idea to get the community involved in spreading kindness.”
Kindness rocks await pickup at Ameriprise Tuesday afternoon.
