Charities facilitating acts of kindness
11/10/2022
Donating to a food bank, picking up litter on a beach, helping a neighbour with shopping, phoning an older person who lives alone. We probably all regularly do many small acts of kindness which make a difference to someone else without thinking. In some cases, this kind act will be facilitated by a charity who has created a way to make it happen.
For World Kindness Day, we spoke to three charities with kindness at their core. Each helps people to do an action, driven by kindness.
Rural Coffee Caravan
Ann Osborn runs the Rural Coffee Caravan which travels around rural areas of Suffolk and helps isolated people to access services and information.
"Kindness underpins everything we do. We exist to alleviate the pain and stress of loneliness and isolation. Kindness lifts spirits and lets people know they matter. A welcoming smile, asking how they are and listening carefully to the answer with genuine interest, helps our visitors relax and enjoy conversation and connection over a free cuppa and cake. Sometimes we discover it’s the first conversation they have had for days. The team will never miss the chance to go the extra mile for someone. Being kind makes us happy too.
Our village visits are open to everyone and provide a lovely warm, non-threatening, welcoming space for conversation. We ask questions that lead residents into chat about life in that particular community. This gives rise to plenty of opportunities for residents to offer help and support to each other as need is revealed, be that individual or community need. We can also signpost communities to support for things like community transport or village advice and we can support them to start their own community activities.
In November 2021, we started a campaign to raise funds to buy slow cookers. People were falling into food and fuel poverty and we wanted to do something to help. A slow cooker is cheap to use, and can provide a hot nutritious meal. To date, we’ve raised over £17,000 and have provided over 800 cookers. These have made a real difference to people’s health and well-being.
Kindness makes the world a happier place. It’s free, it benefits both giver and recipient. It’s contagious too, receiving kindness inspires us to pay it forward. It can be as simple as smiling at someone and saying hello. It has the power to change someone’s day, week, month or even life! To deliver kindness is a superpower we all have! Right now it matters perhaps more than ever!”
WrapUp London
Now in its twelfth year, WrapUp London is an annual campaign run by volunteering charity HandsOn London. Each November, the charity organises ways for people to donate unwanted coats. In addition to local collection points, the focus is three days of activity at central London tube stations which is powered by hundreds of volunteers.
Jon Meech, CEO of HandsOn London said: “Each year we are bowled over by the response and kindness of people. It takes quite a lot of effort to find old coats and take them to a collection. Yet, thousands of people do. In 2021 over 17,000 coats were donated which we sorted and passed to our partners from homeless shelters, women’s refuges and refugee centres.
Some people go the extra mile and organise collections in their workplaces, schools or communities and then bring suitcases full of coats to us. One year a local city farm pushed four wheelbarrows of coats to the closest tube collection point. As well as adult’s, we collect children’s coats and sometimes there are small toys or messages left in pockets.
WrapUp London is about more than coats. It’s about passing on kindness – giving warmth from one person to another.”
Small Acts of Kindness
Small Acts of Kindness is a charity that reduces loneliness and isolation for older people by sourcing, packing and distributing practical gifts and information. One recipient said: "It made me feel very happy and not so alone, that there are people who are so caring. Such a lovely gesture." Lynne Misner, CEO, explained more about how the charity has kindness at its core.
"Since we began seven years ago, we have reached 60,000 older people, many of whom struggle to keep warm in their home. The amazing acts of kindness performed by our volunteers, who give their time to pack gift bags and write personal messages, provide a much needed connection to the community. One gift bag recipient told us that they “found it very comforting to think that people cared.”
We source practical items such as fleece blankets, thermal hats, hot drinks and porridge and pack them into our Warm in Winter gift bags along with useful information. Our Purple Pages Information Pack signposts people to sources of support, help and opportunities for social engagement. The gift bags are distributed through our partners and directly to individuals. Volunteers tell us, “This is a kind charity doing kind things. Being a part of that only gives off kind and happy vibes."
The charity is called Small Acts of Kindness because we wanted to highlight how powerful kindness can be. Whether that’s the time and help our volunteers give, the donations we receive or the organisations who distribute our bags. Working together, each small act of kindness makes a huge difference to the lives of thousands of vulnerable older people throughout our community. We are motivated by Aesop’s quote ’No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted'."
