At the start of the pandemic, Maryland teenager Elise Chang would bake cookies and drop them off at her friends’ houses along with a stuffed animal. Her friends loved the gesture and sent her photos of themselves with the stuffed animals, keeping them all connected. “That’s why I wanted to continue doing it, because of those small but really meaningful reactions,” Chang said.
She decided to use this as an opportunity to spread joy in her own neighborhood and launched the ‘Tough Cookie Service Project’, in which she delivers cookies to 20 neighbors each month and leaves a note encouraging them to do something kind for someone else. The pandemic has helped Chang see just how resilient people are, and how even the smallest gesture can mean so much.
“I love random acts of kindness”, Elise said. “You can just make someone smile when they weren’t originally or they’ll just be thinking about you or what you’ve done and want to continue giving kindness to others, which is really important to me.
be kind . be grace . give to others
be PEACE
