Reader's Digest Launches "Nicest Places in America 2020: United In Kindness" To Honor Everyday Heroes In Time of Crisis

NEW YORK, May 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Reader's Digest has launched "Nicest Places in America 2020: United In Kindness," its fourth annual national search for the places where people are kind and do inspiring things to make each other's lives better every day. As the COVID-19 global pandemic continues to impact communities nationwide, this year's search, in partnership with neighborhood platform Nextdoor, will honor the heroism of the everyday Americans who, despite divisions, have come together in kindness to overcome this crisis, ease suffering, save lives, and assist in ways large or small.

Reader Digest is collecting reader-submitted stories of kindness at www.rd.com/nicest through May 31 and will honor the most inspiring stories online and in print.

For the past three years, Reader's Digest has been celebrating the Nicest Places in America with the goal of sparking positive change in all communities. This year is different. Americans have come together like no other time since World War II. But we are not united to fight an enemy overseas, we are United in Kindness against the coronavirus pandemic.

Nicest Places in America 2020: United in Kindness is a platform for readers to recognize the people in their lives—in their towns, stores, hospitals, social feeds, food pantries, Zoom gatherings, anyplace that matters to them—who would not let the virus defeat them. Reader's Digest and Nextdoor pledge to help make sure America never forgets all their acts of kindness.

"In a time where Americans are facing constant fear and uncertainty, we're seeing neighbors continually step up to serve one another and spread joy," said Reader's Digest Editor-in-Chief Bruce Kelley. "Nicest Places allow us to bring those everyday stories of kindness to a wider audience and add a breath of positivity to a dark situation."

From the audience submissions, an advisory council, including Nextdoor CEO Sarah Friar, Feeding America CEO Claire Babineaux-Fontenot and Trusted Media Brands CEO Bonnie Kintzer, will select the 50 most extraordinary stories, one from every state, to be honored as the 50 Nicest Places in America. Reader's Digest will unveil these stories online at the end of June and give America a chance to help decide which honorees, including one grand honoree, will be highlighted in our November issue. 

Reader's Digest is partnering with local and national organizations, like Feeding America and the American Hospital Association, to make sure we hear each and every story of kindness across America. This includes an expanded partnership with Nextdoor, which has also supported previous searches. This year, Nextdoor will be calling on Americans across its hundreds of thousands of neighborhoods through its newsfeed, newsletters and on social media to share their stories of kindness in the time of COVID-19.

"We're so excited to once again be partnering in the search for the Nicest Places in America," said Nextdoor CEO Sarah Friar. "Now more than ever, communities have been flocking to Nextdoor to connect with their neighbors and share their experiences, and we have been touched to see firsthand the amazing kindness coming out of these communities."

Launched in 2017, the search for Nicest Places has resulted in nearly two thousand nominations filled with stories of a kinder America. In 2019, Columbiana, Ohio was voted the Nicest Place in America, where residents described their community ethos as "giving back without wanting anything in return is a way of life."

The search will run in three phases: collection of stories; announcement of nationwide honorees and public engagement; and unveiling of the grand honoree on the cover of the November issue of Reader's Digest. As America regains its health and old ways of division return, Reader's Digest will not forget what unites us and honor those stories and those people with award-winning coverage online and in-book.

About Reader's Digest
Reader's Digest, a Trusted Media Brands, Inc. brand, simplifies and enriches consumers' lives by discovering and expertly selecting the most interesting ideas, stories, experiences and products in health, home, family, food, finance and humor. Reader's Digest is available online at RD.com; in print; via digital download on iPad, mobile apps and tablets; and can be accessed via its social media channels: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. 

About Trusted Media Brands, Inc.
Trusted Media Brands, Inc. comprises a network of engaged, active readers who genuinely connect with its blend of uplifting and enduring expertly-curated family, food, health, home improvement, finance and humor content digitally, via magazines and books, social media, and events and experiences. Founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace as Reader's Digest Association, one of the first user-generated content publishers, Trusted Media Brands, is headquartered in New York City. For more information, visit TMBI.com.

About Nextdoor, Inc.
Nextdoor is the neighborhood hub for trusted connections and the exchange of helpful information, goods, and services. We believe that by bringing neighbors together, we can cultivate a kinder world where everyone has a neighborhood they can rely on. Building connections in the real world is a universal human need. That truth, and the reality that neighborhoods are one of the most important and useful communities in our lives, have been a guiding principle for Nextdoor since the beginning. Today, neighbors rely on Nextdoor in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Australia, and Canada, with many more to come. Nextdoor is a privately-held company based in San Francisco with backing from prominent investors including Benchmark, Shasta Ventures, Greylock Partners, Kleiner Perkins, Riverwood Capital, Bond, Axel Springer, Comcast Ventures, and others. For additional information and images: nextdoor.com/newsroom.

Media Contact:   
Sarah Van Cleve | sarah@high10media.com | 414-469-8991

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SOURCE Reader's Digest