'It was just getting too difficult': London's Kindness Meters have been retired

London's Kindness Meter program has come to an end after five years in the city's downtown parks due to continued vandalismand personal costs for the man behind the program.

The meters were repurposed parking meters used to collect money for local charities, placed in high foot-traffic areas alongside signage that differentiated them from parking meters and explained their use.

"It was just getting too difficult,"saidLincoln McCardle, the founder of the program.

Kindness Meterswereintroduced to London in2017after McCardle saw a similar program in Ottawa. There were fivemeters, locatedin Ivey Park, Mitchell A. Baron Park, West Lions Park, Piccadilly Park and Victoria Park.

"I think, within two weeks of them being installed,acouple of teenage girls camethroughIvy Park late one night and actually managed to get the top off the Kindness Meter.... Theysplit it open, took whatever money was left in it and then threw the remainder of it in the river."

Vandalism and tampering were a constant problemup untilthe decision was made to retire the meters.

"A month ago, my friendwho works at the city emailed me and said,'Just so you know, someone set fire to the one in Victoria Park,'" McCardle said."Like, how is that even possible for a metal parking meter?They must have been trying to break in or been unable to. They got some kind of flammable liquid, filled it and set it on fire so it was just destroyed."

The decision to retire the program stemmed primarilyfrom vandalism, but there are other reasons.

According to McCardle, the Salvation Army, which had previously agreed to collect funds from the meters for their charity and others, pulled out of their collection routine due to decreasing donationsand the fact that not all meters were in operation, makingit difficult to justify the effort ofcollecting from them.

Once the Salvation Army stopped collection, the responsibility was placed on McCardle.

McCardlesaidthe cost of maintaining the metersoften came from his own pocket, as the program was not run by the city itself.

"I think we had a good run. We raised almost $7,000. I'm proud of what we did, and there was a lot of people who put a lot of energy into it over and above me, but I reallyjust don't have the heart to try it again," he said.

In the future, McCardlesaid he hopes a similar program comes back to the city under more organized leadership. He believes a program of this calibrerequires the backing and funding that a non-profit organization has.

Still, he believes the meters affected some positive change for those experiencing homelessness, and beyond, while they were here.

"I think even some people who may not have benefited financially from the kindness meters in London, at least temporarily derived some kind of happiness from them, just the fact that they existed here."

The meters collected a total of $6,917 since 2017.