Lindsay Collier wishes to help others in whatever way he can.
That’s why, in 2019, the Village of Tall Trees resident and fellow Villager Joe Santoro founded the Acknowledging Acts of Kindness Club. The club gathers at Bacall Recreation Center on the 2nd Thursday of the month. Collier has witnessed a lot of generosity and tries to spread it around The Villages and beyond. He not only promotes compassion through his club, but he has also authored and published a book on the subject.
“There’s an awful lot of kind people in The Villages, and the idea is to really raise them up to be more kind,” Collier said.
Over the years, Collier, the club’s president, has witnessed numerous acts of generosity, such as the time he was driving and observed someone removing a turtle from the road so it wouldn’t be hit by a car.
“I thought that was a really nice act,” Collier said.
Collier tries to instill the value of kindness not only through his organization but also through his literature.
On Amazon, he recently wrote and released a book named “Kindness Rocks! How to Live a Life of Kindness.” Collier talks about the advantages of kindness, the essence of compassion and what you can do to incorporate kindness into your life.
“It’s very important, the idea of acknowledging people,” Collier said. “When you acknowledge someone who does something kind, it promotes them to go and be even more kind in their activities.”
Members of the Acknowledging Acts of Kindness Club give a kindness card, a certificate of kindness or a gift certificate to the person who has done something kind for them.
Jen Smith, the club’s bookkeeper, admires Collier and Santoro for forming the group.
“There are so many people in The Villages who give 110% of what they do, and I think acknowledging people is really, really interesting and fun to do,” said Smith, of the Village Santo Domingo.