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Families heart hunting from a distance becomes craze locally and nationally

Social distancing is important to slow the spread of COVID-19 but it can also be hard for community members to stay engaged when they’re cooped up at home.

Krista Wynes of Galesburg shared a post on Saturday that she thought was a great way for the community to come together, and to give her kids some excitement when they’re on walks.

Wynes said it was the first public post she’s ever made on Facebook and, boy did it become public.

She says the post has been viewed in all 50 states and 11 foreign countries.

The idea is to cut hearts out of paper, gift wrap, cardboard, or whatever you have around and put the hearts up in a front window.

It can be like a scavenger hunt for kids. She decided to share in the group Galesburg Rocks.

You might remember Galesburg Rocks as a community-wide activity for kids, in which people paint and design rocks and hide them around town for kids to find.

Krista thought that the group of rock hunters may be into hunting for hearts while practicing social distancing.

“My hope was that I would get enough families in Galesburg in our area to participate; so that when my kids and I went out for a walk or when my husband and I take the kids for a drive to get them out of the house for a little bit that we’d be able to start, at least noticing, some hearts in the windows of houses.”

She also started a Facebook group called Heart Hunters to promote the idea, and other social distancing activities. Now Wynes’ group has over 41,000 members just days later.

She says the all you need to do to participate is cut out some hearts and put them in your window for passersby to see.

“People of stated on Facebook, ‘I’ll get mine up tomorrow. I don’t have any construction paper.’ You don’t need any supplies. Everybody has something at home. You can cut up magazines, paper bags, gift wrap.”

Some are writings names on their hearts, others are putting messages.

Wynes says even several businesses have even jumped on board including Galesburg Broadcasting.

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