ORLANDO | Mayor Buddy Dyer, District 4 City Commissioner Patty Sheehan and members of the One Orlando Alliance were all in attendance for the kickoff to the fifth annual Acts of Love and Kindness at Carl T. Langford Park in Orlando April 23.
Acts of Love and Kindness is an annual event that begins 49 days before June 12, the day of the Pulse tragedy in 2016, that encourages everyone to do something that helps others, share stories that spread love and give to organizations that provide support to the local community.
“When Pulse happened and we had such an experience of hatred in our community, the community responded with wanting to show people who we really are. We wanted to show people what Orlando really is a place where we love each other and we extend kindness to each other,” says Josh Bell, executive director for the One Orlando Alliance. “The Acts of Love and Kindness were born out of that spirit, so as we continue that, we are continuing to respond to that tragedy and the loss of those amazing, beautiful lives with making our community safer and stronger and more beautiful.”
The Alliance started their Acts, which officially starts April 25, with volunteers cleaning up Carl T. Langford Park April 23.
“This is one of those interesting spaces in Orlando that on one side it is very affluent and on the other side is very income constrained and so by picking this park we knew we were making a difference for a broad spectrum of our population,” Bell says. “So we are picking up trash, we’re cleaning the playground, we’re looking at cleaning up some graffiti so it makes it a better space for everyone to enjoy.”
Dyer and Sheehan also unveiled the city’s “Bring Kindness to the Table” project, a “collaborative art and placemaking project meant to bring eye-catching pieces of locally painted art to spread messages of love, hope and kindness.”
The project features 24 picnic tables — four tables throughout parks and community centers in each of the city’s districts — each painted by a different local artist. Dyer and Sheehan unveiled the table that will be permanently located at Langford Park.
“These public art projects that we do here are accessible to everyone, from the traffic control boxes to the dumpsters and now the picnic tables, these are things everyone gets to enjoy,” Sheehan says. “You don’t have to go to a museum, you don’t have to pay an admissions fee, this is something here for everyone and I love the fact that as much as the LGBTQ community has fought for equality, here we are equalizing and making art accessible to everyone.”
Photos by Jeremy Williams.
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