Continuing on our sharing of First Friday adventures on Elm Street, we feature a photo of the FREE HUGS station at the 300 block of South Elm Street. The Free Hugs Campaign* was started by Australian Juann Mann. Mann said when he left London and arrived in Sydney he saw families hugging and greeting each other and wished he had someone to greet him with a hug. Juan took a piece of cardboard and a marker and wrote the first “free hugs” sign. After Juan’s waiting fifteen minutes, a woman approached him saying she could use a hug. She had lost her daughter in a car accident a year ago that day and her dog had died that morning. They hugged; and so began Juan’s mission to increase human connectivity by giving away free, unconditional, no-strings-attached bear hugs. After partaking in a heartfelt free hug last week, we stepped back and watched the hugging. 

*more on The Free Hugs Campaign here.