Schaefer’s holiday campaign centered around community – we love to challenge ourselves + our clients to slow down + connect during a very busy time of year.
2023’s theme was Share S’more Kindness – here’s how we got there
In 2023, Schaefer partnered with TiER1 Performance on an internal mental health awareness campaign. This was not the first time Schaefer + TiER1 had partnered, and it wasn’t the first time that Schaefer had discussed mental health in the workplace – it’s actually been a part of our benefits for over a decade.
We knew we wanted our holiday campaign to complement the positive work we’ve done this year, monetarily benefit an organization providing mental health resources for individuals in all of our hometowns (National Alliance on Mental Illness), and to bring awareness to one small (free + minimal effort) action that can lead to a large impact. Yep, sharing kindness fit the bill! Plus, kindness is known for its positive benefits to the sender + receiver: it can reduce stress, deepen relationships + increase positive emotions. And once you start sharing kindness, you’ll want to do it more + more!
How to share s’more kindness
Here’s what we asked of our friends + partners – send just one piece of kindness out into the world. Don’t overthink it. Make it personal, make it performance-based. Give it to your family, friends, colleagues or even strangers. Let’s build up positivity + connection during this stressful time of year.
Your kindness benefits NAMI
On to the donation – we really wanted you to share kindness for all of the benefits above (+ more). But accountability is never a bad thing, right? Once you shared kindness, you told us about it here. We wanted a feed full of kindness. We hoped it brought joy + possible ideas on how to incorporate kindness in daily life past this campaign. For every kindness posted, we donated $20 to NAMI, with no limit.
Thanks to your participation, and in addition to our own, we donated a total of $7220 to our local NAMI chapters.
Why s’mores
You may have wondered – why s’mores? We gave clients s’mores kits with the hope that they’d enjoy a fun snack together. There’s nothing to do but connect with the people around you while you toast your marshmallow to perfection. The kits also included kindness notepads – yep, kindness can be given in a quick written note as well!
Now get out there + share s’more kindness.
(A little disclaimer: we’re aware that kindness can’t solve the mental health crisis + that it’s not a treatment plan for someone with a mental illness. Please work with mental health professionals as needed. However, a little kindness never hurt anyone.)
