Strange Kindness
Discovering kindness and support within the Offline First community
My Offline Camp experience was enveloped in kindness even before my bags were packed. Thanks to the organizers and donors, I was given a chance to apply for a scholarship to cover my ticket costs. As an unemployed student who had just finished code school 4 days before camp, attending wouldn’t have been a possibility for me without this scholarship. Backed by the financial support of donors and encouragement of the organizers, I was on my way to Grants Pass, Oregon!
I had an opportunity to speak on any subject that I’m passionate about in a 5-minute “Passion Talk” (or “Passion Share” as I called it), so I wrote up a bulleted list of notes and signed myself up. Given that I only had 5 minutes and that I’m passionate about so many things, instead of choosing one subject I chose to share a number of current passion projects and future goals with this supportive community.
Strange Kindness
I recently founded the social movement and nonprofit Strange Kindness after years of performing small acts of kindness privately. Being kind to strangers is a strange, uncommon concept. Though I may come from a unique perspective, having experienced hardships and trauma including homelessness, I believe anyone can be kind, and everyone can benefit from it — especially those in our communities who need it most. There’s nothing special about me! I started this nonprofit while unemployed on a tight budget and I found plenty of opportunities to be kind in small ways. The mission of Strange Kindness is to encourage every person to help others in any way they can through small acts of kindness.
Voluntr
I am currently collaborating with a small team to bring one of my app ideas to life — Voluntr. When I moved to Portland, I tried to search for volunteering opportunities and between Google, individual nonprofit websites, and several volunteering websites, I was surprised at how difficult it was. Now that I’ve worked with some local nonprofit professionals and upped my coding skills, I’ve honed in on the goal and my team and I have now launched a prototype web app. We will be continuing development on it and bringing it to nonprofits throughout Oregon. We hope to scale this up to a national level so that volunteers throughout the United States can discover volunteer opportunities and nonprofits can connect with people to further their missions.
A Future Farm Sanctuary
Looking well into the future, one of my lifelong dreams is to run an animal sanctuary for rescued domestic and farm animals. In combining my love for both animals and people in need, I am hoping to find a way to create a space where animals can live out their days in happiness while people who need it can find employment and housing while caring for them.
I sincerely want to thank the Offline First community for being so kind and supportive, for listening to me talk about my passions, and for engaging in thoughtful discussions on these subjects afterwards! I enjoyed every conversation so much. If any of this is of interest to you, I invite you to reach out to me on Twitter!
News since this talk was recorded: I have now accepted a Technical Account Management position at Urban Airship in Portland, Oregon!
Editor’s Note: Participants at Offline Camp Oregon had diverse backgrounds and interests, ranging far beyond the Offline First approach that we came together to discuss. Through short passion talks, campers shared with us some of the hobbies, projects, and technologies that excite them. We’re sharing a taste of that passion with you here as a preview to our upcoming events.
