It all started nearly four years ago when Michigan artist Andrea Zelenak had the idea to turn an old bait and tackle vending machine into something a little more meaningful.
In 2022, the artist, who is from the Detroit area, set up a refurbished, brightly colored vending machine on Monroe Avenue in Grand Rapids. She called it The Kindness Challenge.
Inside the machine were three different kinds of challenges that encourage people to extend kindness: Green is an easy challenge; yellow is a medium one; pink ones are the more difficult ones to execute.
Zelenak first received a grant to create the project from an organization in Grand Rapids. As the owner of what she calls “an encouragement shop” called Inkcourage, she knew she wanted to make doing good accessible to everyone.
“The idea is that one act of kindness can create a wave of kindness in a community,” she told ABC 13 News, “so I’m really just challenging people to do one small act of kindness in order to create this bigger wave.”
In 2026, the vending machine is still alive and well. Over the years, it’s traveled around Michigan, at art festivals and various retail and arts districts. Right now, it’s located in Detroit, right outside of Zelenak’s store.
“You can come up — it’s open 24/7 — so you can come any time you want, and grab a mystery item from the machine,” Zelenak said in a recent social media video. “It’s inspired by the butterfly effect, so the idea is that when you do one random act of kindness for somebody, it creates a ripple of kindness in your community.”
The machine works like any other vending machine, accepting cash, coins, and even tap to pay options. According to FOX17 in 2022, each item costs $3, with the funds all going back to create more kindness challenges.
What gets dispensed is an envelope filled with everything someone might need to execute an act of kindness.
Challenges might include giving someone in need a warm hat, sharing a stick of gum, writing a thank you note, or posting encouraging words in public.
In the years since the machine has been operational, thousands of people have participated. In a recent installation at an event called ArtPrize, Zelenak shared that over 3,000 acts of kindness had been dispensed, and she ran out of challenges during the event.
The machine gives out assignments, but Zelenak hopes it also inspires a bit of individual creativity.
“If somebody says something kind to you, you will remember that for maybe a week, or five years, or the rest of your life,” she told ABC 13. “So I really feel like these words are really powerful no matter what you do with it.”
Although these actions may seem small, Zelenak said, the scale of their impact may never be understood.
“The story goes, when a butterfly flaps its wings in Texas, it can set off a hurricane in Japan. One small action can create a ripple and lead to bigger, unpredictable things,” she writes on her website.
“A simple act of kindness can make a huge difference and create a wave of kindness. Kindness is magic. Don’t underestimate it.”
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Header images courtesy of InkCourage/Instagram
