Students, faculty and community members gathered on Sproul Plaza to present UC Berkeley freshman William Chui and Golden Bear Café cashier Verna Watson — affectionately known as “Miss B” — with this month’s Chris Kindness Award on Feb. 13.

Founded in 2022 by UC Berkeley business and political science lecturer Alan Ross, the award recognizes individuals in the Berkeley community who exemplify kindness through service.

“We give awards for everything in our society. How about kindness?” Ross said at the ceremony.

This month, two recipients were honored with the $1,000 reward, and one of them, Chui, is only the second student since 2022 to receive it. 

Chui was recognized for founding the Stooping Club, a reuse initiative he launched after moving to Oakland during high school. Because he “didn’t have that much stuff,” Chui began collecting usable items left on curbs, photographing them and posting them online for free. The project, inspired by New York’s “Stooping” movement, quickly grew into an international network.

“One of our missions is to transform society’s culture into a reuse culture, and that requires a lot of hands together to go out, collect these items, put them on the sides (and) raise awareness in the community,” Chui said. “I just feel proud knowing that so many young people want to make a real-world difference … and that they have this opportunity to do so through Stooping Club.” 

Stooping Club now includes 20 branches across six countries and works to make reuse the easiest option for communities seeking to live more sustainably. Now at Berkeley, he has partnered with the campus’s housing and dining to divert items discarded during student move-outs away from landfills. 

Verna Watson, a cashier at the Golden Bear Café for more than 20 years, also received this month’s Chris Kindness Award. 

“Like many students, our day doesn’t start until we go to GBC and see Miss B on register number two,” said Jason Maddy, general manager for campus restaurants, addressing the crowd during the ceremony. 

Students and colleagues know Watson for her kindness and signature knitted caps, which, over decades, have cemented her as the glue that holds together the Berkeley dining community, according to Maddy.

Maddy said Watson creates a “moment of pause” in UC Berkeley’s “high stress” environment. 

“She understands that … they realize that you don’t see them as another transaction or customer count, but you see them as who they are as a student,” he said. 

Ross closed the ceremony, encouraging attendees to continue nominating community members. He said he hopes to expand the award to San Francisco later this year with the help of financial donations. 

Berkeley Mayor Adena Ishii was in attendance at the Feb. 13 ceremony and emphasized the importance of recognizing local acts of kindness. 

“There is a lot of negativity in the world right now,” Ishii said. “It’s really important that we take a look at what’s happening on the local level and remember that there are really great people doing important work here in our communities.”