To make up for hardships in 2020, the Idaho Foodbank has decided that this year, on top of promoting donations to their foodbank, they’ll be promoting kindness, too.
IdahoKind is the first statewide fundraising and awareness campaign the Idaho Foodbank has offered, and was inspired by the generosity of Idaho philanthropes, Duane and Lori Stueckle.
“They just wanted to make people aware of random acts of kindness that people are doing throughout our communities,” North Central Idaho Branch Manager of the Idaho Foodbank, Michael Wigen said.
The campaign runs from Jan. 18 through Feb. 14. The way campaign works is if Idahoans witness their neighbors, friends, family or even a stranger doing a random act of kindness, they share the story on social media followed by #IdahoKind. Wigen says they want everyone to be aware of all the kindness in Idaho.
Wigen also explained that the acts of kindness aren’t limited to the foodbank. Whether a person is volunteering for another cause, they helping a neighbor shovel a driveway or offer a shoulder for a friend to lean on, they want to see the hashtag full of acts of kindness. Wigen says that the want to capture at least 1000 acts of kindness across the state.
“The other half of this, is they (the Stueckle’s) really issued a challenge to all the people in Idaho,” Wigen said. “They are going to match any donation under this campaign to the Idaho Foodbank. They are going to match up to $100,000.”
If someone donates $50, the Stueckle’s will match that donation with another $50, bringing the total to $100.
The Foodbank is excited about this campaign, and they hope to reach their goal. Wigen said that one dollar is enough for five meals for hungry Idahoans. If the Idaho Foodbank reaches their $100,000 goal, the Stueckle’s will match it and there will be enough money for one million meals.
They hope they will inspire other Idahoans to go out and do acts of kindness to help make a difference.
The reason why they decided to do this campaign was partially due to the inspiration of the good-natured deed of the Stueckle’s. However, they also figured that due to the hardships of the pandemic and the political climate, kindness needed to be shown.
“We are just so thankful for them wanting to do this,” Wigen said. “Making everyone aware of how much kindness goes on in our community, with the whole pandemic and the stuff from the election and the politics and all the issues going on in today’s society.”
If anyone wants to donate to the Idaho Foodbank for this campaign, they can go to https://idahofoodbank.org/. They can also find where Idaho Foodbank pantries are to donate food and volunteer.
Ryan Hill can be reached at [email protected].