The “Love Your Wicked Awesome Neighbor” Challenge
We at EVERYDAY BOSTON believe:
Strangers are just neighbors you don’t know yet. And everyone can use a little extra kindness. So this winter, we challenge you to:
Write some encouraging words on a piece of paper or a homemade card
Add your first name, your neighborhood, and #LoveYourWickedAwesomeNeighbor
Hand your card to someone you don’t know on Valentine’s Day- or get us to do it for you! (Info on that below)
Scroll down for ways to display, distribute or exchange you cards online on Valentine’s Day.
Let’s do this, boston.
Last year, We made more than 1,000 cards…
in schools, workplaces, prisons, nonprofits, you name it. And it made a lot of people super happy.
So in the midst of all this loneliness and division, let’s light this city up with love again. In your face. Boston-style big. Now’s the time.
what If I’m not good at crafts?
No one cares. What they care about is this: Somewhere out there, a stranger sat down, thought of something encouraging to say to another human being, wrote it out on a piece of paper, and sent it off into the world knowing it would make someone else happy. That’s a lot.
It can be as simple as “YOU’RE DOING GREAT” or “You are loved” or “You belong.” Some of the most heartfelt cards come from people who are incarcerated, and all they’ve got is a piece of paper and a pencil. So you got this.
Okay, I made a Card. Now What?
Display it.
Here are some super safe ways to light up the city with your cards. Display them:
In the window of your home or workplace.
On the side of your car, so people stopped in traffic can read them.
Write your message in chalk on the sidewalk on a street where you don’t know anyone.
Tack it on the bulletin board of a coffee shop, library, or in another public space for others to see.
distribute it.
You can always mail it to us or ask us to pick it up, and we’ll distribute it. But here are other socially distant strategies:
Slip it under the door of a small business
Leave it on the windshield of a car or in the mailbox of someone you don’t know
Drop it off at a workplace where people don’t get enough appreciation (grocery stores, post offices, the RMV)
Give it to your bus driver or other MBTA worker on your commute.
exchange it online.
In partnership with our friends at The B.L.A.C. Project, we’re doing an online card exchange this year. It’s kind of neat. Here’s how it works:
You upload an image of the card you made
We’ll send you an image of a card one of your neighbors across the city has made
You’ll have the opportunity to send a thank you note to that person
Use the hashtag,
get a hoodie!
Post about your experience on social media and you’ll be entered in a raffle for a free Everyday Boston hoodie!
If you tag us, of course.
Need more INSpiration BEFORE YOU SIGN UP?
Here you go!
Thanks to all of our awesome partners in 2024!
Community partners: Greater Boston YMCA, For Black Girls, New Mission High School (Females Unite for Social Empowerment), English High School, Boston Medical Center (Clinical Research Network), Boston Medical Center (Family Medicine), Woodbourne Apartments, Soccer Unity Project, Gavin Recovery Center, Vine St. Community Center, BCYF Gallivan Youth Center, Fenway Community Center, Susan L. Curry Community Center, Grove Hall branch of the BPL, Parker Hill branch of the BPL, Codman Square branch of the BPL, Northeastern University (Service Learning), Northeastern University (Honors program), Mattapan Food and Fitness, Plymouth Correctional Facility, Westborough Connects, Boston University’s Alpha Phi Omega: Zeta Upsilon, the Mattahunt Elementary School, Shaugnessy Elementary School, and Side by Side Pre-School and Childcare Center.
Some of the individuals participating: Karen Osarenkhoe, Madeline, Elsa Flores, Teri Trotman, Dorothy Cotton, Roxana Aguirre, Ana Martínez, Janice Thomas, RuQuan Brown, Ashley Croker-Benn, Rachel Green, Romero Chacon, Kamil Curry, Kerry Simes, and Raejonay Manning-Arthur.
Questions? Comments? Suggestions?
Send them our way: hello@everydayboston.org
