Longtime readers of The San Diego Union-Tribune may remember Leigh Fenly. She’s been retired for about 20 years now, but during her 30 years at the paper, she covered all sorts of stories.
She spent the last 12 years editing the Quest section; that was all about science. Now, she specializes in a different kind of science: that of kindness.
“It's very straightforward, kindness is, and everybody knows that language, everybody knows what it is,” Fenly said.
We interviewed Fenly in front of VIP Cleaners in the Morena District because that’s where this story begins. It started late last year when she was bringing in some dry cleaning — and noticed a sign in the window, telling passersby, “If you are unemployed and need an outfit cleaned for an interview, we will clean it for free.”
“I was really moved by it,” she said. “You never know what's going to move your heart, but that day, that sign moved my heart.”
So, Fenly went in and had a conversation with VIP Cleaners co-owner Karla Villareal.
“I love to talk to my customers. My kids say that I talk too much sometimes,” Villareal said with a laugh.
The talking happens in front of the shop because in the back, it’s busy and noisy with apparel of all sorts being washed, steamed and pressed and finally hung on one of those clothing conveyor belts, wrapped and ready for the customer.
Overseeing this cacophony of cleaning is Karla’s husband Salvador. While Karla is taking care of customers out front, Salvador makes sure everything is humming along smoothly in back.
Back to Leigh Fenly and what seeing that sign sparked.
“I went inside. I thanked them for putting the sign up and then as months went by, I kept thinking about it. I kept thinking about who are these people that have created this lovely kindness that’s just such a generosity of heart,” she said.
The Villarreals’ way of spreading kindness moved her reporter’s heart to her own act of kindness.
“I just went to, ‘How can I write about people doing kind things?’”
The answer to that question was the creation of a monthly publication with a self-explanatory title — Kindness Happens Here.
But Fenly couldn’t do it on her own, so she turned to some old friends for help. They responded with their own acts of kindness.
“My former colleagues have stepped up with me who produce the newspaper with me; write for it, edit it, design it, create photography, illustrations, all out of the kindness of their hearts, voluntarily giving skills and time and that’s been the greatest kindness of all because it could not happen without people who share your dream,” Fenly said.
A dream realized, and found at Kindness Happens Here. It probably won’t surprise you that it’s free, and there are occasionally printed versions.
“It’s 90% online but for special occasions like our library edition, we did print out a lot of copies and donated them to the library foundation … it turned out to be a really good thing. It came out just as the city was debating massive library cuts, so we felt like it was a really good time to focus on what libraries do for communities, way beyond books,” Fenly said.
And what San Diegans like the Villareals do for their fellow San Diegans.
“A lot of people, they come in here and they’re in a bad mood or they’re mad and we just keep talking to them and you see them just laughing getting out of here, and we’re like OK … I mean, it’s something joyful,” Karla said with a smile.
In the front of a dry cleaner's, on the printed page, on the screen: joyful things, acts of kindness — begetting kindness.
