The next time you’re in a bad mood because the Metra train is late or someone steals your parking spot, don’t be surprised if a stranger hands you a small pewter heart.
Since 2009, Northfield resident and social worker Jeanne Malnati has been handing out pewter hearts to unsuspecting people who seem like they’re going through a rough patch.
Malnati’s organization, called “Spreading Hearts,” includes two other members—her young adult daughters. Both women, who live in the Chicagoland area, have followed their mother’s example.
The idea to give strangers a little bit of joy struck Malnati when her youngest daughter, Melissa, went to South Africa for a college project. Malnati had packed a pewter heart into Melissa’s suitcase so that she’d always have a little reminder of home. One night, about a month after she left, Melissa called from South Africa in tears. She had lost the heart, which she always carried in the pocket of her jeans. An hour later, Melissa called back—her friend had found the heart.
A few weeks later, Malnati and her older daughter visited Melissa in South Africa. Malnati took along a few more pewter hearts. It occurred to the family that they should distribute the hearts to needy South Africans. “A little voice said, ‘Do something,’ ” she says. “Give something to people who need a boost.”
Malnati estimates they passed out 13 hearts in South Africa. When they returned to America, they decided to continue the project. “Every human wants to be seen or noticed, and these hearts show people they are noticed,” she says.
Malnati and her daughters, who always carry hearts in their purses, pass out about 5 hearts per week in the Chicagoland area. Shoe salesmen, theatergoers, waitresses and strangers in parking lots have been among the lucky recipients. Malnati even gave Sheryl Crow a heart when she was lucky enough to meet the singer before she performed at Ravinia this past July.
Malnati has heard that some recipients have “paid it forward” and passed the hearts along to others. “I recently spoke to a brownie troop and their mothers,” she says. “I gave them all hearts. They decided to give the hearts to other people who needed them, like elderly neighbors.”
Malnati is currently having 10,000 hearts engraved with her web address, spreadinghearts.org. In early 2011, she plans to sell the hearts on her website.
