‘To help other people at all times’

We’ve seen it in big ways – with key workers risking their lives to make sure people have healthcare, food and hygienic homes and streets – and in small ways, as thousands of rainbow signs have appeared in windows with encouragement for passers-by.

‘Care’ is one of our Scout values, and we know members do it by the bucketload. In the last year, our young people logged more than 230,456 hours helping their communities (and it’s estimated that the actual number is two or three times more than that). In the last few months, there’s been an even more focused effort on helping one another, with some amazing results.

Our Community Impact Group (a group of elected young people) have launched multiple brilliant campaigns, including #CareForCareHomes. Young people said they usually help residents throughout the year and that the crisis shouldn’t stop that from happening. #CareForCareHomes encourages them to continue, collectively carrying out 10,000 acts of kindness. At the time of writing, they’ve carried out nearly 3,000 acts of kindness, with almost three weeks to go – a great result. One group livestreamed their weekend camp directly to a care home, while others have sent letters, videos and drawings to residents.

Of course, the movement made a huge impact together on 23 April, when BBC Children in Need and Comic Relief hosted TV fundraiser The Big Night In. As part of the event, Scouts came together to Hike to the Moon – walking around homes, gardens, and up and down stairs, dressed as aliens, astronauts and even planets, all to raise money for a fantastic cause. Chief Scout Bear Grylls and Scout Ambassador and ESA Astronaut Tim Peake also appeared together on BBC Breakfast to announce that they were taking part in the project – Bear by hiking lengths of his garage, and Tim by climbing his stairs about two hundred times (he felt it was important ‘to gain some altitude’). In total, everyone hiked more than 440,000 miles (enough to go to the Moon and back again), and the government pledged to match the funds, meaning we contributed a whopping £750,000 to communities affected by COVID-19.

We could go on forever. Locally, Scouts have done everything from sending postcards offering neighbours support with shopping or loneliness-busting virtual catch-ups to making face masks for key workers.

One Beaver Scout, Saul Grocott, has been spreading happiness around his village by delivering sunflower seeds. He said, ‘Because everyone is so worried at the moment, I wanted to do something to make my village more happy. I bought seeds in packets and split them into groups and put them in my own packets with a message from me. Me and my little brother Angus have been travelling around on our bikes delivering the seeds to every house. I hope they enjoy growing them and we get giant, happy, sunflowers soon!’

At Scouts UK HQ, we’ve been doing everything we can to reflect your kindness. In March, we launched The Great Indoors – a free database of 150+ activities for quarantined families. At the time of writing, more than 525,000 people have visited, and more than 43,802,039 people (around two thirds of the population) have read about it. We’re really pleased with its success, as it means Scouts has been able to support both existing members and new young people.

Together, we’ve been able to make a positive difference during this crisis. We know it’s not over, that there’s still lots we can do to help those who’ve been most affected. This could feel overwhelming, but looking at everything achieved so far, we know we’ll be able to help so many more people. And that’s all down to you – thank you.