HR0900 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

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HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The World Kindness Movement is an organization with no religious or political affiliation whose chief objective is to foster goodwill among the local, national, and international communities; by way of kindness, the movement hopes to create greater understanding and co-operation between all people and nations throughout the world; and

WHEREAS, The World Kindness Movement was conceived at a Tokyo conference in 1996 when founders of the Small Kindness Movement in Japan brought together like-minded individuals from around the world who had started kindness movements in their own countries; a second conference was held in 1997 in which the World Kindness Movement was formed, with the founding members being the countries of Japan, Singapore, Australia, Canada, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States; the movement was officially launched in Singapore in November of 2000 at the Third WKM Conference with 33 delegates from 22 countries; and

WHEREAS, The date decreed for World Kindness Day is November 13 of each year, which was the opening day of the first World Kindness Movement conference held in Tokyo in 1998, and the 35th anniversary of the Small Kindness Movement of Japan, which brought the signatories of the 'declaration of kindness' of the World Kindness Movement together in 1997; and

WHEREAS, Individuals can help implement the goal of the World Kindness Movement by themselves being kind and helping others; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we designate November 13, 2014 as "Random Acts of Kindness Day" and urge all citizens to be kind to others and do a random act of kindness on this day.