Previous Free Hugs Day Event
December 13, 2009
This was SO much fun in Calgary!! Despite the -33 weather (that’s -25 farenheit for those of you who don’t use the metric system. Yes, it was cold enough to get frostbite in 10 minutes, but somehow we managed unharmed – the love kept us warm enough!) every one of us who walked downtown had a marvelous time. We felt so uplifted by the smiles and honks from drivers driving by. And the reactions from pedestrians we met on the street was stupendous!
The Free Hugs Campaign Lives On!
Dec 2009 entry from Tina Thrussell: I wore my Hugs t-shirt to the mall today and made a point of going into The Bay store to offer hugs to all the floor staff. I approached men and women alike, telling them “you’re doing such a good job. Can I say thank you by offering you a hug?” Most reactions went something like, “Are you Kindding!? Yeah! I’ll take a hug. You just made my day!”
Jan 2010 entry from Tina Thrussell: We continue to wear our Free Hugs t-shirts everywhere we go, sharing the True Spirit of Giving. Just today a woman in the mall stopped me and said, “I’m an ESL teacher and one of my students came to school last Monday and said he’d gotten a hug from a lady downtown and it made him feel so good. He was so excited!” How thrilling for the story to come back to me!
Please share good will by sharing hugs. Then share your stories on our blog www.bestucanb.ca/blog
Media Coverage
You can watch the News video coverages of the event that were aired on Television Sunday night. Check our bestucanbchannel on You Tube here:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E96IJGBCgQg
And
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnVgJXLNbVU
We also got newspaper coverage, with a lovely photo, at Metro Community News http://www.metronews.ca/calgary/local/article/396633–free-hugs-make-spirits-bright and a large photo of one of our huggers with two children was published in the Calgary Herald on December 14th.
The latest media attention has come from Radio Canada International. You can listen to the radio interview about Free Hugs Day at http://www.rcinet.ca/rci/console/index.asp?langue=en&idEmission=1925
Make a Difference
Swarm the streets of your city or town to offer Free Hugs to everyone!
Our intention is to spread loving, joyful, abundant, and unified energy!
Purchase T-Shirts
Order on-line www.freehugs4us.org/cart
(On the Last Page of the check-out, there is a box to the left that asks for your code. This is very important! You must enter the code into that box in order for the organization to receive their share of the t-shirt purchase. Using one of the coupon codes designated below will also result in a $3.00 discount to help defray the cost of shipping.)
Coupons currently listed:
Servants Anonymous Society of Calgary (Coupon code: SAS)
Glide Memorial Church of San Francisco (Coupon code: Glide)
School of Life Foundation (Coupon Code: SLF)
Positive Focus – Living Life Fulfilled (Coupon Code: PF)
International Basket Brigade (Coupon Code: IBB)
Free Hugs Day Hugging Etiquette
Rule #1 – Always Ask Permission First
Always ask permission first, even though you are holding up a sign and/or wearing a free hugs T-shirt. ALWAYS ask if they would like a hug first. And wait until they agree to receive the hug before you step toward them.
Rule #2 – Personal Space Boundaries
Respect the receiver’s space boundaries. Do not pull the receiver of a hug in so close as to have complete body to body touching.
Rule #3 – A Hug Is A Gentle Embrace- not the Heimlich.
A Free Hugs Day hug is a gentle 2 second embrace. Keep your hands on the recipient’s back (no patting of the back is allowed). There is a difference between a warm, friendly hug and a passionate embrace – please hug accordingly.
Rule #4 – Make it a Heart hug.
Offer the Heart Hug when you can, with explanation. Raise your left arm high in the air and encourage them to lift their left arm high. Now explain that when you come together you form a perfect X with your bodies, connecting your hearts to each other for a perfect Heart Hug.
Rule #5 – Personal Hygiene
Please ensure you have showered or bathed prior to attending a Free Hugs Event. Limit yourself to wearing deodorant only, no perfume or fragrances.
More Ways to Make a Difference
YOU – no matter where you live – can help MAKE FREE HUGS DAY A SUCCESS by taking any or all of the following steps:
1. Purchase an official RED FREE HUGS t-shirt. Your t-shirt purchase not only makes you easily identifiable as an official hugger, it offers financial support to one of the five non-profit societies in North America. See details under purchasing T-shirts
2. OR… make yourself a sign that says FREE HUGS and hit the streets with us to offer hugs to passers-by.
3. Help us promote Free Hugs Day. Tell everyone you know about it. Email your friends. Put up posters and send out press releases. (Contact info@bestucanb.ca for more info) More about Best U Can B below
4. Encourage people you know in other cities to host their own Free Hugs Day. Imagine the energetic impact on the world if people all around the world joined us – a huge wave of hugging and human connection throughout the day – everyone offering hugs for an hour or longer; 1:30-2:30pm in your own time zone – we will create a TSUNAMI OF LOVE!!!
5. Email everyone you know and send them to www.bestucanb.ca/free-hugs or www.freehugs4us.org/blog for more information.
Best U Can B is a company based in Calgary, Alberta. Their seminars, workshops and retreats utilize high-involvement and accelerated learning techniques that allow participants to have tons of fun while dramatically enhancing their lives. By utilizing breakthrough processes in SMALL GROUP ENVIRONMENTS, their participants experience both immediate and long term results that include a greater sense of self – they have a clearer understanding of who they are; better relationships; true power; a purpose for living; inner peace.
Most importantly, Best U Can B participants (who are lovingly refered to as ‘family’) experience a beautiful heart opening that takes their lives to a new level.
Best U Can B was the initiating force behind the December 13, 2009 and the July 3, 2010 Free Hugs Day celebrations.
