In case the nightly 7 p.m. cheer for frontline workers wasn’t heartwarming enough, a new Vancouver app is aiming to help communities connect even more through the daily gesture.
Each day, the Gratitudo app, launched earlier this month, counts down to the nightly cheer, and notifies users when the cheer is about to start. The app cheers along with users “to amplify the celebration” in each community, before ending the daily celebration by highlighting a “hero of the day.” Users can nominate any front-line responders working hard to fight the COVID-19 pandemic to be selected as the daily hero.
The celebration is amped up a notch on Thursdays and Saturdays, when the app broadcasts a special two-minute pre-show before the official cheer starts. Better yet, the app will then lead users into a community-wide singalong. Gratitudo users can vote for a karaoke song to sing during the evening cheer - no need to know all of the lyrics to the winning song, because the words will appear on the screen, karaoke style, when it’s time to sing.
“Our mission is to shine a spotlight on the very best in human nature,” explains the app’s website. “Often we don't see the downstream good that can come from our simple acts of kindness. Gratitudo exists solely as a hub to share the stories of how someone else's generosity of spirit has impacted our lives. A place to recognize ordinary people doing extraordinary things.”
The free app is available across North America on both the App Store and Google Play and has a zero advertisement policy - keeping everyone’s focus on the cheer at hand.
