When Gary Schineller moved to New Port Richie, Florida in 1998, nobody smiled or waved as they jogged and biked along the town streets and trails. They kept their heads down and moved on. Schineller decided this was unacceptable and set out to change things.

“I began my campaign of ‘good morning’ and ‘nice to see you’ and ‘boy, that hat looks great on you’…you can always find something uplifting to say to someone. And as I did that, it spread. And before you knew it, if you were a jogger around my neighborhood today, everyone waves at each other. Even cars going by me when I’m running are waving from the back as they go by.”

Encouraged by the contagious effects of sincere friendliness, Schineller, an ordained minister in the Universal Brotherhood Movement, a Reiki Master and founder of the Council of Metaphysical Ministries decided to expand operations. In 2000 he suggested a county-wide Hello Day to other ministers who were looking for ways to improve their communities. The council approved the idea and Hello Day was born.

A local success in Pasco County that year as well as in 2001, Schineller says, “As you walked outside you could just feel the energy.” In 2002 the title was changed to Hello From My Heart Day and the movement expanded into the business community. From local mom and pop shops to Winn Dixie supermarkets, where check-out personnel greeted everyone from their hearts and the chain’s participation was announced every half hour over the public announce systems, the message spread.

“If you can imagine the Tampa Tribune answering their phones, ‘Hello from my heart,’” chuckles Schineller. “The publisher liked it so much he offered four extra vacation days with pay for those who participated. And he had people do spot checks to make sure people were participating.”

An estimated 750,000 people in the Tampa Bay area participated in 2002,

and Schineller was able to get statistics from the sheriff’s departments of eight participating counties on the impact the day was having.

When comparing crime statistics between August 1, 2001 and the August 1, 2002 Hello From My Heart Day, the average drop in crime across the eight counties was 35%.

“The first year I didn’t have any figures,” Schineller says. “I didn’t have any statistics. I had my heart and a message that I had from spirit. Did I know it was really going to work? When the statistics started to come in, and we got all eight counties you can imagine you couldn’t wipe the smile from my face.”

Gary Schineller gives a warm greeting

Shawn Casey, an Internet marketer in Duluth, Georgia, got involved that year, sending the information for Hello From My Heart out to hundreds of thousands of people on his e-mail lists. “We invited people to call Gary, and people from all over the country started to call saying, ‘This is such a cool idea, I want to be a part of it,’” says Casey. “I think some people feel kind of silly saying it. But once they get over that, I think they feel a very positive response and everybody responds positively to it. There’s no way for anyone to argue with the concept, because it’s just a meaningful way to express appreciation for a fellow human being.”

In 2004 Schineller decided to shift Hello From My Heart Day from its regular August timeframe, to September 11th, which felt appropriate as a way to counterbalance the national grief on that day and express unity as human beings in one nation. However the idea “spread like wildfire,” and in 2004 people from communities in 22 countries and 37 of the United States registered as participants on the Hello From My Heart website.