The Face of Kindness World Tour is about bringing a big dream to life...

It has come about through the kindness of family, friends and strangers...

It is the "next step" is an eight-year journey of experiencing, inspiring and promoting kindness in schools, communities and beyond...

Most of all, this journey is about an idea whose time has come. The world seems ready for a global experiment in the profound ability of human kindness to bring positive change... this journey is a huge opportunity to ask -face-to-face- what kindness feels like, looks like, sounds like, all over the Earth, and to be storytellers of these truths to each other.

Like the realization of any dream, this one has been shaped not only by inspiration but also by struggles, obstacles and personal challenges. Who can say when the seeds for a journey are really planted, in the course of following our life's purpose? The actual conception of the Face of Kindness World Tour crystallized in February 2002. A mere eight months before the September departure date, Debbie and Mark started the wheels in motion: they put careers on hiatus, sold homes, booked flights and rapidly prepared heart and soul for this transforming experience.

The touchstones along the way have been like stars in the sky, too numerous to single out. Still, here are a few of the beacon-like moments in time that have shaped this global project, from the perspective of this Canadian connection to the World Kindness Movement.

• 1995

  The birth of a campaign to promote Random Acts of Kindness in Edmonton schools and communities is born, and nurtured by two teachers, (Debbie and her sister Colleen) and later a small committee, faithful supporters, sponsors and the city at large. Random Acts of Kindness celebrations and awareness campaigns continue on various levels in Edmonton and Alberta schools. (RAK Week is celebrated in February, the week of Valentine's Day)

• 1996

  The work being done in Edmonton and in other countries comes to the knowledge of the Small Kindness Movement in Japan. Suddenly Debbie and Colleen are invited to Tokyo to explore the idea of working toward world kindness, at a meeting of like-minded people from around the world.

• 1997

  The birth of the World Kindness Movement on Sept. 20, 1997 in Tokyo, Japan. Signatories from seven countries pledge to a commitment to inspire kindness in their home countries and beyond borders. Debbie and Colleen sign for Canada.

• 1998-2000

  Annual meetings of the World Kindness Movement, a non-religious, non-partisan, group, continue in Tokyo and then in Singapore, along with preparatory meetings in Edmonton in 1999. The loose affiliation of countries sending reps to the WKM grows, and along with this, the dream of a kinder world. A date for celebration and for a catalytic call to kind action everywhere is set: World Kindness Day will be celebrated on November 13, beginning in 2000. Web sites for the WKM and for some participating countries crop up to further promote the movement and share success stories.

  The wildfire appeal of the simple message of kindness spread quickly. The small Random Acts of Kindness Committee in Edmonton had networked with an organized support organization in the U.S. - the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation - which had developed simultaneously and had mobilized hundreds of communities and provided start-up resources for kindness campaigns. Also, a dynamic group of kindness enthusiasts in Vancouver, BC, KindActs, take the reins in hand to become an umbrella group for a whole variety of kindness projects in the metro area and in their province. Close links are established between the smaller Edmonton group and KindActs.

• 1999

  Caught up in the spirit of collecting stories of kindness, a Vancouver couple sets out Cycling for Kindness, a KindActs-backed, 10,000 mile bicycle journey around the U.S. seaboard and across Canada that sends out ripples of awareness across the continent.

  In Edmonton, the idea of promoting Random Acts of Kindness locally, was spreading and beginning to self-start in many schools and communities. But calls were also starting to come in from across Canada and around the world. As an original co-founder of the WKM on behalf of Canada, Debbie had continued to participate at world kindness meetings and bring home ideas from the world tables to her Edmonton committee, who in turn, wanted to keep visioning about the idea of a Canada-wide network for inspiring and promoting kindness projects. They also wanted to build on what Canadians can bring to the idea of world kindness. And so in December, the committee, despite its largely unsupported volunteer nature, decides on an identity that matches the vision and The Canadian Kindness Movement Foundation is registered as a society in Alberta. With the help of local multi-media support and then KindActs Vancouver, the Canadian Kindness Movement web site is launched at www.kindness.ca.

• 2000

  The World Kindness Movement meets in Singapore, with a significant number of new Asian countries arriving to take part. World Kindness Day is celebrated for the first time on November 13. Participants in the various countries continue to have celebratory periods for kindness campaigns at various times during the year, according to their own national holidays and customs. "Kindness is in season, all year long."

• 2001

  The ongoing work to inspire kindness is focused in a new way by the tragic events of Sept. 11. In Edmonton and Vancouver, heightened World Kindness Day celebrations, further ignite the sparks for the potential - and necessity-of connecting human beings in new ways worldwide.

• 2002

  Sudden golden opportunities propel forward the dream of further connecting participants in the WKM and sharing kindness stories from around the world. The wonderful effects of teaching and inspiring kindness that have been core to Debbie's work with the movement and in her own career, suddenly feel transportable. The time is now and the idea for The Face of Kindness World Tour becomes a call that needs to be set in motion. The ripples become a tidal wave. Luckily, Mark is a good swimmer. He enters the scene early in the year, and the idea of making a difference in this way, comes at exactly the right time for him too. Together, Debbie and Mark are staying open to the possibilities, and are weaving their lives into the vision of what the Face of Kindness looks like, in the next nine months and beyond...