What good is sharing a city like New York with millions of other people if you can't connect with them? On most days of the year, you pass by your fellow pedestrians without noticing them.

But on Nametag Day, you'll have a chance to break the ice with total strangers. The New York chapter of the Awesome Foundation is proud to announce that our $1,000 April grant will fund an ambitious plan to distribute hundreds of thousands of nametags across New York City.

Nametag Day is June 1, 2013, and when it takes place it will be an experiment in social interaction on an unprecedented scale. There's a website (http://nametagday.com), where independent filmmaker Michael Morgenstern and his team (we like to think of them as a rag-tag band of misfits from an '80s movie) explain their vision for strengthening the human element of the New York experience.

The full, 200,000-nametag operation will require probably a couple thousand volunteers, dozens of nametag distribution centers and no small amount of money, but Michael is determined to make it happen on June 1st no matter what. He is in touch with potential sponsors, and crowdfunding isn't out of the question. Volunteers can sign up on the website. The purpose of the event, he says, is to get people to talk to each other. But more than that, it's about bringing a culture of openness to this sometimes standoffish city.

Awesome NYC is glad to get behind Nametag Day, and we look forward to seeing droves of strangers walking around on June 1st, their chests proudly declaring, "Hello! My name is ______."