In a world that can often feel like it’s filled with tragedies and traumatic events, Chip andJoanna Gainesare determined to add some kindness.
Betweenmass shootings, the tense political divide and anongoing global climate crisis, the hurt that many people are experiencing around the world began to weigh heavily on the couple.
“All these terrible things that have happened just really shocked my system,” Chip, 45, tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue, on newsstands Friday, November 8. “I started talking to Jo like, ‘What can we do?’ I don’t want to leave a world like this to my children.”
Perry Hagopian
That’s when they came up withthe idea for Kindness Flyers(which are available todownload and print here).
“We started wrestling with the thought of simply paying for a stranger’s meal or calling an old friend— just a little token,” says Chip. “It evolved from there.” They created four different flyers with tear-off tabs encouraging acts like “Volunteer at a charity” and “Thank a veteran for their service.”
“It got really personal for me,” says Chip. “Obviously, I want to do a whole lot more than print out flyers and staple them around people’s neighborhoods, but if this is where we can start, I’m honored to give it a try.”
Adds Joanna, 41: “We were hoping that it would resonate with people. Little things that wouldn’t feel like a stretch and are good for your soul.”
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In August, Chip opened up in apersonal essayon his wife’s blog: “It’s been a tough couple of weeks for a lot of people in our country, and I can’t help but wonder, how did we get here?” he wrote at the time, shortly after themass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about kindness lately, about where it starts and what keeps it moving from one person to the next,” he continued. “I believe that we are all made in likeness, and because of that, our hearts are naturally drawn toward one another. But the thing about kindness is, it’s a choice.”
The Gaineses’ commitment to kindness made them a natural choice for the cover of PEOPLE’s first-everKindness Issue, dedicated to highlighting the ways, big and small, that kindness can make a difference and change lives. In the issue, celebrities from Julia Roberts toTiffany Haddishtell us about the impact kindness has had on them, and everyday people share the moment of kindness that inspired them to improve the lives of the people around them.
WATCH THIS: Priyanka Chopra,Jessica Biel, Kerry Washington and More on the Kindest Thing Anyone Has Done for Them
Chip and Joanna say the response they’ve received to their flyers so far has been encouraging, especially among children.
“For me, the schools are where it starts,” says Joanna. “That’s the generation we are raising up. Every day we try to teach our own kids to be kind to themselves, to each other, to neighbors and especially to those who look like they are alone.”
As parents to sons Drake, 14, Duke, 11, and Crew, 1, and daughters Ella, 13, and Emmie, 9, they’ve made instilling those values early a huge priority.
Chip Gaines/Instagram
“We try to be conscious of what we hear them say to each other and how they say it,” says Joanna. “I know the kind words that were spoken to me as a kid that were really impactful—but also the negative words that I had to work through up until my 20s and 30s. We try to teach our kids that their words really matter.”
The couple say the addition of Crew has been a reminder to the family of the innate goodness in people.
“There’s just something about kids—they don’t have the stereotypes that we’ve built in our own minds, or the prejudices,” Chip says. “It’s funny, for Jo and me and our older kids, we watch Crew and see how he embraces life with this amazing neutrality. He’s just full of life, love and curiosity.”
source: people.com
