“It’s a little thing, but it’s a big thing.”
That was the thank-you message Michelle Livingston received from a friend who had shared a screenshot of her daily joke board with her middle school son, still in Zoom classes during the height of the pandemic. Her son would always reply—sometimes with a “haha,” sometimes with a groan—but always with connection.
Michelle Livingston lives in Davis, CA—where I live, too! One of Davis’s most distinctive features is its extensive network of bike paths and greenbelts. Michelle’s home is right along one of the city’s most heavily trafficked paths, popular with bikers, walkers, and joggers. In early 2020, as anxiety and uncertainty over COVID mounted, Michelle—who runs the farmers markets for a third-generation family farm and was worried about her frontline workers—wanted something concrete to keep her grounded and connected to her community.
Then came a simple idea:
What if we posted a daily joke on a chalkboard outside our house—something for neighbors to smile at as they passed? What kind of impact could a small act like that have?
It turned out, a big one.
For Michelle and her family, it became a daily ritual. She, her husband, and their son would search for the perfect joke, often competing to come up with the funniest one. They listened from the backyard as passersby stopped to read—and laugh. That laughter was contagious.
And the community responded.
She received thank-you notes, including one on New Year’s Eve 2020 with a bottle of champagne. When her chalk supply began running low during lockdown, she added a small request to the board: “More chalk, please?” The next day, she found enough chalk left by neighbors to last for months.
Soon, she realized the board’s reach was growing. Teachers at the local elementary school began sharing the jokes to start their virtual classes. Someone used them to open their team meetings. Through her work across different towns, Michelle heard from three people in three different places who knew about the joke board. One local woman, recovering from hip surgery, made the board her daily walking destination. A woman in Chicago sent a thank-you note—her niece texted her a picture of the joke board each day, giving them a reason to connect.
Recently, the board (which is still active!) was featured on the ABC10 Sacramento segment “To the Point with Alex Bell” (I was even interviewed, check it out here!). While filming, two high school cross-country students biked to her house during their free period just to tell the reporter how much they loved reading the board on their training runs.
There are so many lessons in this story, but one stands out clearly:
Resilience often shows up in small acts—tiny gestures that ripple outward in ways we never expect.
In trauma-informed work, we often talk about how to reduce stress and increase connection. That can mean big initiatives, but more often, it’s the little things—what Origins Co-Founder Andi Fetzner likes to call “sprinkling resilience.”
Resilience champions like Michelle are in every community. That’s why we created the Resilience Learning Community—a dynamic virtual space where you can pause, connect, and explore tools and practices to build resilience in your organization and community.
We’re kicking things off with a launch party on July 22—and we can’t do it without you!
Because we need spaces like this now more than ever.
Getting Started: A Guide from Trauma to Resilience