Cork kindness pioneer named among Future Icons
Cillian Ferry
A Cork man whose mission to make the world a kinder place has reached millions of people has been recognised on an international power list ahead of World Kindness Day this Friday.
John M Sweeney, from Glenville, has been named on Country & Town House magazine's Future Icons Power List 2027, recognising his work in promoting kindness and generosity through his initiatives including Suspended Coffees and Drop Dead Generous.
Launched on World Kindness Day two years ago, Drop Dead Generous provides people with $500 grants, trusting them to use the money to bring creative and generous ideas to life within their communities. The project has so far supported 592 people across 40 countries, with the pair having originally raised $500,000 to fund 1,000 recipients.
John's journey into the world of social initiatives began in 2013, after he came across the Italian tradition of suspended coffees, whereby customers pay for an additional coffee for a stranger.
Having left school shortly after his Junior Certificate, John spent around a decade working as a plumber before discovering his passion for working with people through volunteering with individuals experiencing homelessness and addiction.
“I always wanted to work with people, but the advice I was given was that I wasn't very academic and the best thing I could do was go into the trades,” he said.
He established a Facebook page to promote suspended coffees, admitting he initially had little idea how far the concept would travel.
“I honestly didn't have a clue what I was doing. I'd never tasted a cup of coffee in my life at that point,” he joked.
His latest project, Drop Dead Generous, came about after being introduced to Tom Cledwyn through Chris Anderson, Head of TED, who had featured John's story in his book on generosity. Together they founded Drop Dead Generous.
One of the project's Cork success stories involves a man named Ken who noticed that dog walkers in his local park often passed one another without interacting. He subsequently created small gift boxes containing treats for dogs, gifts for their owners and humorous puns, under the name ‘You Are Pawsome’. The idea encouraged strangers to stop, chat and connect, with some boxes even being left in different locations around Cork for others to discover.
“He just noticed that sometimes it could be hard to break the ice with people,” John said.
Despite the project's international success, John said only around five grants had gone to recipients in Ireland so far, and he hopes to encourage more Irish people like Ken to get involved.
Research conducted with the University of Sussex found that the grants have generated an average of more than $3,000 in wider socio-economic impact, with recipients contributing approximately 129 hours to their ideas.
John, who admitted he struggled financially for much of the early years of Suspended Coffees, said receiving recognition through the Future Icons Power List was particularly meaningful.
“It's just amazing. Honestly, it was just incredible,” he said, adding that the recognition was also a tribute to the many people who had supported his work over the years.
Looking ahead, he and Cledwyn hope to secure funding for another 1,000 grants, while also developing further opportunities for previous recipients to expand their projects.
“We're trying to find more people and start to tell the stories a little bit more, keep doing what we've been doing, and do a lot more of it, essentially.”