The Kindness Offensive - History

History

The Kindness Offensive began on August 3, 2008, when three of the four 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 developed by the fourth founding member Robert Williams which the group call 'Phone Whispering'.

In the following months, they gave away hundreds of free tickets to see West End musicals, concerts and 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 climbing well over 2 million.

In December 2008, TKO teamed up with Vinspired and took a 70-strong team of volunteers to help give away over 35 tonnes of presents to people across London. They handed out 3,500 hampers and over 12,000 toys, as well as high-end electrical items and gizmos. They contributed to 12 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).

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 Channel 4 program 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 Easy Diner in Central London on Pancake Day 2009.

Kindival In April 2009, 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.

The Everyday Kindness Awards Staged over 3 days in August 2009, with support from ING Direct. The Awards celebrated the everyday acts of random kindness performed by normal warm-hearted members of the public. There were three 'disciplines'; 1) helping a stranger up some stairs with a heavy bag; 2) helping a stranger collect a stack of dropped papers; 3) offering a lost tourist directions to a landmark.

TKO Toy Run TKO delivered several hundred toys to children’s Hospitals around London in celebration of Ramadan 2009. A Youtube video entitled ‘Kindness Offensive toy run’ chronicles the giveaway, and has been viewed over 30,000 times.

Pancake Day 2010 TKO joined forces with LeapAnywhere.com to hold the second 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 YouTube viewing awards in its first 24 hours of going live.

Chocolate Week On April 5, 2010 TKO gave away a vast amount of chocolate to charities and members of the public. They also held a series of Chocolate Tea Parties at Age Concern Centres around London. During Chocolate Week TKO ran foul of Camden Borough 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.

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.

Spare Change you would like to see in the world Taking place in Autumn 2010, spare change collected by a TKO member was spent on Random Acts of Kindness. The Spare Change event was the first TKO event to be replicated by TKO members outside of London.

The Kinder Bus Around the same time, TKO 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, (because it is kinder than most buses).

2010 White Stuff Kindness Offensive TKO broke their own record for the world's largest ever Random Act of Kindness (previously set in 2008) when they teamed up with clothing company White Stuff. The event made television news reports as TKO gave away over 30 tonnes of goods to children in hospital, the homeless across London a multitude of other good causes.

Summer Festivals 2011 In the summer of 2011, The Kindness Offensive attended Glade, Sunrise, Secret Garden Party and Leefest festivals in the UK. Travelling with the Kinder Bus and the Funbalance, (their converted ambulance), they were responsible for massive giveaways of food including pineapple pieces and granola bars from General Mills; gadgets from FunkyLeisure.com (wellies, Chinese lanterns, loads of toys and tens of thousands of hand-wipes) as well as free Illy coffee and other festival-orientated gear. The giveaway weighed in at over 20 tonnes!

Barclaycard Kindness Offensive In December 2011 Barclaycard joined forces with the Kindness Offensive, (TKO), in an effort to bring thousands of presents to children in hospital and many others in underprivileged situations.

In late 2012 a series of newspaper articles ran in The Evening Standard and The Ham & High, highlighting a TKO toy shortfall for their Christmas toy giveaway, which provides toys for some of London's most underprivileged and unwell children. As a result of the articles, there was a massive outpouring of support from businesses and the public, which enabled TKO to stage an event three time larger than in previous years. The massive scale of the event, which centered on distributing over 12,000 toys, resulted in the giveaway being reported on as one of the largest of its kind ever seen in the world.