I attended a conference recently and was privileged to meet an amazing woman who has faced more than her share of adversity in her life, and despite this, believes her life was saved by the kindness of other people. Kindness Factory™ started from her story of courage, hope and adversity and is now a global movement.
Kath Koschel was an elite cricketer and in 2011, made her debut for NSW against SA. Kath sustained a back injury and complications from surgery saw her nearly have her leg amputated. It was only her stubbornness that prevented surgeons from removing her leg after they discovered a small bleed in her abdomen that was limiting the blood flow to her leg. Whilst attending rehabilitation, Kath met Jim and they planned a future together, but Jim took his own life in 2012. Kath’s recovery from the mental and physical trauma was tough, but throughout it all one thing shone out … the kindness of others who simply wanted to help. Kath launched Kindness Factory in 2015 and hoped to reach a milestone of one million acts of kindness.
With her physical injuries continuing to heal, she competed in an Iron Man Triathlon with prosthetic discs in her back and signed up for another triathlon in 2016. While on a training bike ride for the event, Kath was hit from behind by a 4WD, breaking her back and sustaining life threatening and life altering injuries.
Kath genuinely believes that her life was saved in this instance by the kindness of other people. So many people posted acts of kindness on her website, and social media feeds were inundated with kindness, leading her to believe that we all have the capacity for kindness. The movement has now grown into a registered not for profit organisation operating across Australia and the USA and has logged nearly 4.5 million acts of kindness. Kath continues to strive for kindness everywhere she goes.
If you want to know more or want to log an act of kindness, you can find all the details at Kindness Factory – kindnessfactory.com
Cr Fran Mann
Mackay Regional Council
