'Kindest site' helps pay it forward
Miresi lets you track your kindnesses

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) - Pay it forward. There's now a website for that.

The just-launched site is the brainchild of Kelle Bovid, a 48-year-old Michigan mother of four who hatched the idea one day on the road home from Chicago.

"In the drive-thru at McDonalds, I paid for my drink but also for the meal for the gentleman in line behind me. The McDonald's employee was excited when I said I'd pay for the next meal and asked if I wanted to relay a message. I said 'just pay it forward," she told KOIN.com.

"I watched the man's reaction as he was told that his meal had been paid for. He laughed! So for $4 and some change, it made me happy, and brought some joy to the McDonalds employee and the guy who got a free chicken sandwich. Is there a better way to spend $4? I don't think so."

Over time, she took that feeling and idea and turned it into Miresi.org -- Miresi is the Persian word for kindness.

"Miresi.org is the result of a collaboration with Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan. We were given a team of four students and 11 weeks to create the entire site," Bovid said.

Here's how it works:

A person goes to Miresi.org and creates a free account, then downloads and prints the pay-it-forward cards.

"Each card is coded with a unique number to enable tracking," she said. "Go out and do something nice for someone, and leave the card behind with the recipient of your kindness. The card will direct the recipient to miresi.org where they'll enter the card number, be able to see its history, and tell of their own experience. And pay it forward in their own way.

"Each person associated with a card will be able to see the history of the card and to watch as it moves forward."

Visitors to the site will also be able to see other people's acts of kindness, too, plus comments from people who've received the cards.

"Currently our tracking allows users to enter an address or zip of the location where the card or kindness was passed," she said. "Our next step is to create mapping which will give users a visual depiction of the card as the acts of kindness are paid forward."

They want people handing out more than one card because they know not every card will be acknowledged. The more cards in circulation the more likely people are "to see the impact of their act of kindness."

A mobile app is in development.

GVSU faculty member David K. Lange said his student teams work about 1000 hours on each project. He sees another student team working to build a better tracking system and better visual presentation.

"We want to bring joy to people," Bovid said. "I know how good it feels to be surprised by a random act of kindness and I'd like everyone to experience that.

"When people see how good it feels to surprise strangers, we're hoping they'll do it more often. We want people to see that their actions have real and lasting effects, and to inspire them to make all their actions positive."

http://www.miresi.org/