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One hug at a time: How one man is handing out kindness

Daniel LoganBBC News NI
BBC A man with short brown hair and a short brown beard and moustache smiles at the camera. He wears a white quarter zip jumper with a white t-short underneath. BBC
Niall Donnan is on a mission to spread kindness, while documenting it all on his social media accounts

A young man with an urge for random acts of kindness is often faced with a unique question from members of the public: "Why is this weirdo wanting a hug?"

But most respond positively, Niall Donnan says, and people "need" connection.

"Deep down everyone just wants love and positivity," he says.

Donnan has made it his mission to offer random strangers hugs, while documenting it on his social media accounts.

It doesn't stop at this, however, as he has used charity walks and online fundraising pages to help those in need.

And to the possible chagrin of his bank balance, the 24-year-old has taken to travelling the world to embark on his journey.

"I always knew I wanted more than what I was doing and I came from a place myself where I was an introvert," the Newcastle, County Down man told BBC News NI.

"I didn't interact with people, friends, family, strangers. I didn't talk to anyone and through a journey where I started to interact with people, I found out like, wow, this is really important and people need this."

He then began posting on social media and "started with things like charity work".

"It just grew and grew and grew to random acts of kindness and just positivity and human connection," he said.

Niall Donnan A man stands in the middle of the footpath in a busy city street wearing a green hoodie underneath a black padded coat. He holds a white sign in red and black writing that reads "If you need a hug... Hug me." Niall Donnan
Donnan has began taking his acts of kindness out of Northern Ireland and across Europe

After starting in Belfast, Donnan has taken his "kindness" international.

"I've interacted and spoken with thousands of strangers, all from different places with different ways of living and the general outcome that I get is that they're a bit taken back, they're a bit shocked, they're asking themselves, "why is this stranger talking to me?

"Why is this weirdo wanting a hug?"

Donnan claims that after a brief period of confusion, most people think "no, this is actually really nice".

"I haven't been to any particular town, city or country that has treated me any different," he said. "Deep down everyone just wants love and positivity."

One of his recent feats was raising money to get a homeless person accommodation.

"I just had a conversation, then we got chatting. What I gave him was my time and I got to know him, and I asked 'can I share your story online with my followers?' And I did, we started up a GoFundMe page, we raised a £2,000 for him, now he's three months in and he has a home and he has a job.

"Time is the biggest gift you can almost give someone.

"That was definitely a standout moment."

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Donnan says he has only ever received hate online, never face to face.

"On the streets, there are really no negative interactions.

"Online would be slightly a different story when you post the videos. I would say 98% is good and 2% is bad."

When Donnan first started posting on social media, he chose to do a challenge of hiking 101 mountains in 100 days.

It raised £2,5000 for the air ambulance, he says, and prompted him to carry on and "to influence people online to do a bit better and to look out for other people and spread that kindness".

Off the back of recent fuel protests in Ireland and Northern Ireland, Donnan decided to "do something a bit different" by giving away free fuel to some people.

"I had a bit of extra money lying about, so why not?" he said.

"I put up a post on Facebook, and I said '£50 of free fuel to somebody in these comments'.

"Two girls won the competition and I met up with them, gave them free fuel and left. Literally a two minute interaction.

"If I have a bit of extra money, it's no good in my wallet. Imagine you were to die tomorrow and you had like a wallet full of money? What a waste," he said.

"Like my bank balance, I'm constantly living on the edge of a cliff that I could just fall off at any time.

"But that's exciting and fun to me. So if I have an extra £20, you know that I'm just going to use it to like, I don't know, make someone else smile."