Written by WCA Intern Mady Boyer
Kindness is many things. Because kindness is so significant, people define it in many different ways. Everyone has their own definition of what kindness truly means. The WCA Communications and Outreach Interns value kindness and they’ve shared why kindness is so important to them and their work at the WCA.
Meet Grace
Grace Erbe is a Communications and Outreach Intern at the WCA. She attends Boise State where she is a communications major with an emphasis in public relations. At the WCA, she has enjoyed being a part of the What Compassion Accomplishes podcast and participating in a social media campaign for Domestic Violence Awareness Month. When Grace was asked what kindness means to her, she responded with, “Kindness is showing compassion to everyone you come across because you never know what other people may be going through.” She believes the WCA resembles kindness in many ways. She explains the WCA demonstrates kindness by “showing compassion to members of our community and helping people heal and recover from traumatic situations.”
Meet Alli
Alli Stice is another Communications and Outreach Intern at the WCA. Alli is a Boise State student majoring in global studies. The project she has most enjoyed working on at the WCA is helping to create a template flyer for all clinical services offered by the WCA. She has also been involved with social media posts. She shares her personal meaning of kindness by explaining, “Kindness is always being nice and learning to have empathy for other people. I think it is so important to understand and learn about people and I think with its genuineness that is what kindness looks like.” She believes the WCA represents the true meaning of kindness.
Through reflecting, Alli said, “I think the WCA resembles kindness because first and foremost all of the work they do is to help others. The WCA has taught me to learn about people’s backgrounds and get to know one another because that creates the most genuine relationships.”
Meet Arika
Another intern for the Communications and Outreach department is Arika Gourley. She also attends Boise State where she studies psychology. Arika has enjoyed working beside Sandra Blumer on her outreach activities, and she has had the opportunity to write articles for the newsletter and attend different WCA events.
“I personally believe that kindness is shown through acts of service and selflessness. It can be the smallest acts, such as giving a person a smile, helping someone load their groceries or sitting next to someone that may feel left out. Just giving yourself the time for others can go a long way. This is why I really enjoy the work and services the WCA provides.” To her, the WCA represents kindness in the workplace. Arika said, “Everyone working here is so sweet and they are extremely passionate about creating a safe community. I believe the passion behind the WCA makes the services even better than they already are. I value that so much because I want to head to another state/city and provide similar services.”
There are many ways to practice kindness. Perhaps kindness is a value that allows us to connect with others and build meaningful relationships. Like the WCA, kindness makes an impact on lives. If we want to truly understand the meaning of kindness, then we need to do more than read about it. Go out and spread kindness.
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