The Kindness Starts With FS(You) campaign last month saw many kind acts on campus and in the city.

Kind acts listed on the campaign's blog ranged from making Fanshawe a little cleaner to holding doors open for students with their arms full to giving up seats for elderly passengers on the bus.

Campaign organizer Sam Hodgson noted this blog post as her favourite act of the month:

"A young kid, about collegeaged, was playing a guitar outside of the grocery store the other day. A man walked by and started yelling at him saying that he was no good and should just quit, since no one had given him any money. A lady coming out of the store heard him and pulled out a $20 bill. She walked up to the boy and said, 'Don't quit while you're ahead,' put the money down and gave the other man a dirty look. It was truly amazing to see a complete stranger stand up for someone else. It also inspired me to do the same."

According to Hodgson and her organizing partner, Rachel Pray, the campaign was a success.

"We had 720 recorded acts of kindness — close to our goal (of 1,000 acts)," said Pray. The organizers were impressed to see so many acts recorded during a span of just two weeks, from October 18 to 31.

According to Pray, the effects of the campaign have been lasting.

"(I've) noticed that more people are being kind, even after (the campaign ended)," added Pray.

The girls extended a special thanks to volunteers, who wore bright yellow shirts as they recorded kind acts they saw across campus and handed out over 200 suckers to students.

The goal of the campaign was not to raise money — it aimed to raise awareness and remind people how great it feels to be kind.

The London-wide campaign by the LUSO Centre collected a total of 54,645 kind acts across the city in the month of October.

Meredith Fraser, head of LUSO Community Services' anti-hate and anti-bias program, started the 1,000 Acts of Kindness campaign last year. She recalls the 2009 campaign recorded a total of 52,115 acts of kindness.

"It's really not so much about the number — it's what people are doing." That being said, she was pleased to note that when the years were combined, over 100,000 acts of kindness took place across the city.

"And that's only what was recorded (and submitted to the Acts of Kindness blog)," she added. "The real number is far greater."

For more information on the London-wide Acts of Kindness campaign, visit the LUSO blog at 1000acts.ca.