Anyone walking across campus the first day back from Spring Break may be surprised by random compliments, cups of cocoa, or "RAK hacks of kindness" during MIT's first Random Acts of Kindness Week (RAK Week), thanks to two enterprising second-year undergraduate students and a corps of volunteers. With funding from the MindHandHeart Innovation Fund, offices of Minority Education and Dean for Graduate Education, and the Baker Foundation, two sophomores, Bettina Arkhurst and Cory Johnson, have rallied a growing volunteer crew to carry off a campus-wide week of simple, selfless acts from March 28 to April 1. Students who wish to volunteer can contact RAK-volunteer@mit.edu.
“We hope RAK Week will be a time for the members of the MIT community — undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, staff, and MIT associates — to connect through small acts of kindness,” says Arkhurst, who serves as student chair of MindHandHeart’s connectedness working group.
While organizers have planned a full schedule of RAK Week events, they have intentionally kept the week open to spontaneous low-key, stress-free add-ins. They have asked students, faculty, and staff to participate in RAK Week in any way they see fit. Arkhurst says, “We encourage everyone to step out of their usual routines and reach out to others.” During RAK Week, institutional resource groups such as Student Support Services (S-Cubed), MIT Medical and MIT Libraries are planning events to complement the RAK Week schedule. Members of these institutional groups and many more can be found in Lobby 10 on Wednesday, March 30. Tuesday, March 29 will be dedicated to getting to know members of peer-to-peer resources such as Peer Ears and REFS.
The name of the event Arkhurst says was strategic. “On the Thursday of RAK Week we’re planning a day when we encourage RAK hacks of kindness. Anyone who witnesses a random act of kindness can post it on social media with the hashtag #MITRAK.”
The MindHandHeart Innovation Fund, which helped get RAK Week off the ground, is currently accepting applications through March 31. The Undergraduate Association (UA) and the Graduate Student Council (GSC) are co-sponsoring this effort and will collectively review the proposals with MindHandHeart. Applications are accepted online via an interactive application. Read more about MIT's first RAK Week (coming March 28, th eday after Spring Break) here.