First United Bank United Acts of Kindness Day was last Friday starting with a ceremony in the bank’s lobby that morning. Durant City Council previously approved a resolution declaring Feb. 13 United Acts of Kindness Day encouraging citizens to participate in acts of kindness that uplift the community and reflect the spirit of generosity that makes Durant a wonderful place to live, work, and thrive.
What began in 2020 with a goal of 10,000 acts has grown into a global movement sharing more than one million acts last year. This year, 1,700,113 acts of kindness were recorded.
Brandon Johnson, senior vice president and regional market president for First United, thanked everyone for partnering with them and making a meaningful impact in the community.
“It takes all of us to do that,” Johnson said. “It takes a village.”
Brett Rogers, First United Community Bank president, opened in prayer.
“Dear God, we come before you,” Rogers said. “We’re thankful for the opportunity to share kindness in a world that needs love. Dear God, I’m thankful that I get to work for a company that we can wear kindness on our sleeves. That we can talk about it in public. We can talk about it everywhere we go. As Jesus pointed out, the greatest commandment out there, God, is to love you with all we’ve got and to love our neighbors as ourselves.”
Mayor Martin Tucker read a proclamation from the city.
“United Acts of Kindness Day encourages all people to take intentional steps to brighten someone’s day, support neighbors in need, and strengthen the shared sense of community that defines Durant,” Tucker said, reading from the proclamation.
First United CEO Greg Massey drew laughter when he said, “The police department’s not going to give tickets today.”
Choctaw Nation Chief Gary Batton said, “What I love about First United is not just a slogan that we say, but it’s something we live out and within the tribe. We try to live that out each and every day. I think about from the tribe’s perspective, though is if y’all can imagine in 1832, we signed the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek. We started coming across the Trail of Tears. We lost a third of our people. That’s not a sad story. I don’t want people to feel that way because after we came across Trail of Tears, guess what we did?”
Batton said tribal members then heard about the people starving in Ireland.
“We didn’t have casinos back then and so, tribal members pulled money out of their pockets and sent money to the people of Ireland that they honored us in 2017 with the dedication of the Kindred Spirits statue,” Batton said. “But that was our way of showing our acts of kindness.”
Batton spoke of when the tribe regained its Constitution in 1979 and the act of kindness shown by the City of Durant when the tribe was looking for a place to establish a headquarters.
“Nobody wanted us, the Choctaw Nation,” Batton said. “But guess who embraced us? Durant. They gave us the old Presbyterian College. That’s the reason why we’re here in Durant. That’s the reason why we will never leave Durant because that act of kindness that was given.”
Massey said everything great First United has ever done has come from the employees. He said that when sitting in his father John’s office, they asked employees what they wanted to be known for. Employees said they wanted to be known for their faith and love of God.
“What we realized over time is that the more that you love God, the more we actually love other people,” Massey said.
According to Massey, six years ago, a group of people from Dallas had the idea of setting a world record in something.
“We want to set the world record in something,” Massey said. “So, if you think about the love of God. If you think about the love of people, why not do acts of kindness?”
Massey reflected on his father John that he described as an incredible man known for encouraging people and said that encouragement is an act of love.
“I can’t tell you how much it inspires me to see 2,000 people reaching out to our communities and reaching out to someone in an act of love … we need to change it from acts of kindness to acts of love because they’re so hand to hand,” Massey said. “So, my heart just goes out for everybody that’s in this room.”
Massey encouraged everyone to just do something kind.
“It could be something as simple as someone who is behind you in the line at the convenience store, buy their cup of coffee or buy someone a doughnut or giving someone a hug,” Massey said. “It’s amazing. This world needs a big smile and a big hug every day, so just go out and have a great day.“
