Feel the Love From Heart Hunters Everywhere! Why Hearts Are Going Up in Illinois, Across the Country & Around the World by Kathy Ast

Now that we’ve been sheltering in place for a month, and snow has graced our streets on April 15, 2020, the days can be long and dreary. What to do, what to do? Games are great, puzzles, spring cleaning, kids have schoolwork, I’m learning to cook new dishes... But when is this quarantine going to end? And how do we stay optimistic until it does?

One thing has been making me smile for a while now. A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to get an invitation from an acquaintance to join a Facebook group called Heart Hunters. It was started as a project for children to pass the time and spread some cheer. They cut out a bunch of colored hearts and pasted them on their windows and doors so they could be seen from the outside. Then they invited neighbors, and eventually a much wider circle on Facebook, to do the same.

From the Facebook page, the idea was “to spread a little love and compassion. The page was started by a mom in Galesburg who saw a post about posting hearts in windows for kids to see while out walking ... We wanted to promote social distancing while doing an activity with them during a time when we must be so careful.”

The Facebook group has grown to over 800,000 members, from every continent on the earth. On Easter Sunday, when I could not get together with extended family in person, I put up my hearts. I cannot tell you how much joy I get from seeing the sun shining through the hearts. I even made the windows my virtual background for my Zoom meeting. 

What are some other ideas you have for passing the time and spreading some cheer?

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