- The Kindness Offensive
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The Kindness Offensive (also known as TKO) is a group based in North London, England, which is renowned for practicing large scale random acts of kindness for unsuspecting members of the public. The stated purpose of The Kindness Offensive is to ‘Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty’, a phrase first coined by Anne Herbert.
Contents
History
The Kindness Offensive began on August 3, 2008, when founding members David Goodfellow, Benny Crane,and James Hunter set out for Parliament Hill to ask members of the public what ‘random acts of kindness’ they would like done for them. They received many requests from the public, which they then proceeded to tackle using a technique they call 'Phone Whispering'.
In the following months, they gave away hundreds of free tickets to see West End musicals, concerts, or sporting events, as well as musical instruments, kitchen equipment, high-end electrical items and handmade chocolates to name but a few.
TKO hit the headlines in October 2008 for giving away twenty-five tonnes of non-perishable foods to fourteen soup kitchens and drop-in centers across London. Some of the recipients included four branches of the Salvation Army, The Women’s Asylum Seekers Together, and the Muswell Hill Churches Soup Kitchen.
As a consequence of all the media attention TKO has seen, they started their own Youtube channel, which follows them on BBC One’s London News, BBC London 94.9FM, LBC and others. It has seen tremendous interest, with a total number of views well over 2 million in just a few months.
The 'Vinspired Kindness Offensive', (22/12/08), saw them team up with Vinspired and take a 70-strong team of volunteers to help TKO give away over thirty-five tonnes of presents to people across London. They handed out 3,500 hampers and over twelve thousand toys, as well as high-end electrical items and gizmos. They contributed to twelve different charities and community groups the day of the event, including Great Ormond Street Hospital, as well as taking presents door-to-door across London.
TKO assert and it is widely accepted that their event on the 22nd of December 2008 was the UK's largest ever Random Act of Kindness (at that time).
On Pancake Day 2009, TKO gave away 500,000 pancakes, the vast majority of which were given away to a wide variety of charities, including The Upper Room Project and the Salvation Army.
TKO teamed up with activist Tom Robbins who is campaigning on behalf of 'The Do-Gooder Army' for a new Channel 4 show called 'Battle Front'. Tom Robbins and other members of the Do-Gooder Army helped TKO to cook up pancakes for thousands of people at Ed's Diner in Central London on Pancake Day 2009.
In April 2009, they teamed up once more. This time TKO headlined at an event called Kindival, put on by Tom Robbins and his Do-Gooder Army, where TKO gave away hundreds of quality gift-wrapped presents to an excited audience.
On the 14th, 15 & 16 August TKO with support from ING Direct staged 'The Everyday Kindness Awards'. The Awards celebrated the everyday acts of random kindness performed by normal warm-hearted members of the public. There were three 'disciplines'; the first involved helping a stranger up some stairs with a heavy bag; the second involved helping a stranger collect a stack of dropped papers; and the third involved offering a lost tourist directions to a landmark.
In August 2009 TKO delivered several hundred toys to children’s Hospitals around London in celebration of Ramadan. A Youtube video entitled ‘Kindness Offensive toy run’ chronicles the giveaway, and has been viewed over 30,000 times.
On Pancake Day 2010, TKO joined forces with LeapAnywhere.com to hold the second annual TKO Pancake Day event at Ed’s Easy Diner in central London. The event was held in support of the NSPCC; those attending included Michelle Dewberry, the winner of UK reality TV program ‘The Apprentice’; MTV and Euro Millions presenter Carole Machin, and England Rugby stars Joe Simpson and Paul Sackey. A Youtube video entitled ‘NSPCC Kindness Offensive’ gained many international awards in its first 24 hours of going live.
On April 5, 2010 TKO began their Chocolate Week' during which they give away a vast amount of chocolate to charities and members of the public. They also held a series of Chocolate Tea Parties held at Age Concern Centres around London. During the Chocolate Week TKO ran foul of Camden Council who banned them from giving chocolate to local children. The actions of the Council were criticised by the Telegraph and the Ham and high. A Youtube clip entitled 'Candy from Strangers' chronicles this period of TKO history.
In Summer 2010 TKO orchestrated several mass giveaways most notable of which was at the Sunrise Festival. TKO also gave a series of talks (many of which can be viewed on Youtube), and performed a series of life-changing Personal Random Acts of Kindness. These included providing medical supplements and housing support for individual people and families in need. In the fall of 2010, a giveaway took place called "Spare Change you would like to see in the world" where spare change collected by a TKO member was spent on Random Acts of Kindness. The Spare Change event was the first TKO event to replicated by TKO members outside of London. During that period TKO also mounted a campaign to win a Routemaster bus being given away by the White Stuff clothing company. Due to an outpouring of public support on Facebook and Twitter TKO won the Bus! It was christened the Kinder Bus.
On the 22nd December, The Kindness Offensive (working with White Stuff) broke their own 2008 record, giving away 39 tonnes of goods. This included enough food to feed 50,000 people, a toy for every child unfortunate enough to be in hospital over Christmas and a mountain of woolly hats, scarves and sleeping bags which were given directly to the homeless by teams of TKO volunteers (led by London's own Sock Mob group). An item ran on ITN & Sky News with the event gaining support of several local officials and many companies. Add to that the 140 volunteers in attendance. On the 27th of May 2011, a giveaway of over 25 tonnes of food took place, with distributions to London charities and local Brixton folks.
At the beginning of June 2011, The Kindness Offensive again attended the Sunrise Celebration in Somerset. They took the Kinder Bus along with the Funbalance, (a converted ambulance), providing a massive giveaway. Food included pineapple pieces from General Mills, along with granola bars and free Illy coffee. Toys from Funky Leisure.com included wellies, Chinese lanterns and kites. Plus of course a festival mandatory- hand wipes! The total goodies weighed in at over 7 tonnes, making this the biggest Kindness Offensive festival giveaway to date.
On the 9th of June 2011, the TKO team pulled up with an even larger amount of stuff to give away at the Glade Festival in Norfolk.
Presence in Popular culture
TKO first hit the news when the Richmond Informer ran an article on September the 5th entitled “A free guitar for teenager Lucas, no strings attached” which told the story of the trio giving away a red electric guitar to a speechless teenage boy.
Their notoriety rose considerably when a BBC news item exploring their adventures entitled ‘The Kindness Offensive Begins’ appeared seven times throughout the day on the BBC One’s London News on the 7th October 2008.
On the same day they were interviewed on The Late Show with Jumoke Fashola on BBC London 94.9FM to talk about their work.
The BBC One London News ran another News item entitled 'Hampers at the Ready' following the 'vinspired Kindness Offensive' event on the 22nd of December 2008, which saw them hand out over thirty five tones of presents to the public at random as well as other charities and community groups. It generated huge media interest delving into their large, unusual and always inspiring events. Several articles have been written about the group, most notable of which was The Independent, who ran a double page article (pages 10 & 11) focusing on and exploring the kindness and inspiration of this group.
Liam Byrne MP of the Cabinet Office said in the Sunday Times 28 December 2008 of The Kindness Offensive,
"Few have better captured the new urge to give than The Kindness Offensive"
TKO were featured on the front page of the February 26th 2009 edition of the Hampstead & Highgate Express with an article appearing on page 4 entitled 'Flipping great pancake day'.
'The Everyday Kindness Awards' was covered by the BBC News with an item entitled, 'A pat on the back for kind Londoners', broadcast throughout the day on the 14th August.
On the 24th August 2009 The Sun newspaper ran a large article on page 14 with the headline, 'It's cool to be kind', which detailed TKO history and aims.
Mayor of London Boris Johnson, officially commended The Kindness Offensive stating,
"The Kindness Offensive project has brought immeasurable joy to many thousands of Londoners"
On Sunday 29 November The Sunday Times Style magazine ran an article with the headline 'The feel good factor' in which TKO exploits were reported along with social commentary from several influential people.
See also
External links
Kindness Offensive Youtube Channel - [1]
References
BBC One, London News – Air Date - Tuesday, 7 October 2008
BBC News Channel – “'Kind' group hands out free food”, Tuesday, 7 October 2008 - [3]
BBC One News “Hampers at the ready” Reported by, Gareth Furby Monday 22 December 2008
BBC Radio Scotland 93.9 FM Fred MacAudley & Co show 24 December 2008 [5]
BBC Radio London 94.9FM 22 December 2008
BBC London Radio 94.9 FM – The Jumoke Fashola show, Air Date – 7 October 2008, 10.00PM [7]
BBC Radio Sheffield - 19 January 2009
ITN News “An act of kindness” Monday 22 December 2008
The Independent “A Random Act of Christmas Kindness” By Jerome Taylor Monday, 22 December 2008 Pages 10–11
The Big Issue “Festive freebies” By Daisy Greenwell Page 42 22 December 2008
The Sunday Times “Think tank: New ideas for the 21st century: Joining the rush to help others A new caring spirit shows society wants to heal” By Liam Byrne 28th Dec 2008
Channel 4 News online “Payments in kindness” 22nd Dec 2008 Source: ITN
View London “Vinspired Kindness Offensive”
City Talk 105.9FM 22 December 2008 Duncan Barks’ show [15]
LBC 97.3 FM 22 December 2008 Jenny Barnet show [16]
The Big Issue, October 13–19, 2008 No.817, Page 42 [17]
Camden New Journal - Kindness ‘junkies’ offer much food for thought, by Charlotte Chambers, Published: 9 October 2008, Page 6
The Ham and High - “Kindness Offensive hauls in 25 tonnes of food for refugees”, By Miguel Cullen, Published: 9 October 2008, Page 29 [19]
Richmond Informer – “A free guitar for teenager Lucas, no strings attached” By Patsy Duffy, Published: Friday, September the 5th, Page 14 [20]
Boring Student.com - Pancake Day 2009
Yamaha UK – “Yamaha’s Kindness Offensive”, 9 September 2008 [22]
Londonist, “No Such Thing As A Free Lunch?” Published; October 8, 2008, By Dean N Food and Drink - [23]
Kilburn Gent Word Press, “Random Acts of Kindness”, October 9, 2008, by Chris Pearson
www.BoringStudent.com, Free pancakes [25]
Rhubarb, Pancake Day! [26]
Rhubarb, Pancake Day at Ed's Diner [27]
BBC News, "Pat on the back for kind Londoners"
All three of 'The Everyday Kindness Awards'.
The Sun Newspaper, 'It's cool to kind'.
The Times Newspaper Style Magazine 'The feel good factor'
The Ham & High, "Giving Sweets to Children, That's far too pick and Risk. 34
The Telegraph, "Council taking Candy from Babies"
Categories:- Organisations based in London
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