Jessica Watson, founder of Have A Nice Day Project in Baltimore, has made it her personal mission to spread happiness through the area and to make sure Charm City lives up to its nickname — through a unique community effort.
In 2015, Watson began a series of booster events, bringing together diners and bar patrons to decorate cup sleeves with positive messages, fun jokes, doodles and more. The sleeves are then distributed at local coffee shops.
Have a Nice Day Project has now successfully hosted one event each quarter for the past two years. Watson loves to use her events to support smaller businesses and manages to find local companies who share her passion for kindness to partner with her. In previous years, Watson has held events at Mt. Washington Tavern, The HandleBar Cafe and Wet City, to name a few. This past fall, she held an event at Suspended Brewing Company in Pigtown.
“Create your own sunshine,” one cup sleeve read and its owner praised the idea of “having a message to start your day off right.” On Facebook, Watson returned the goodwill saying this, “is exactly why I do what I do.”
Have a Nice Day has distributed 5,000 sleeves so far and hopes to bring more small acts of goodness to a location near you soon.
