7 ways to help your local community on World Kindness Day
Scouts have also had an unwavering commitment to making the world a better place at its heart, helping to promote our values of care, respect, and co-operation.
World Kindness Day is celebrated annually on 13 November. It serves as a powerful reminder of the incredible impact that compassion and friendliness has in our own communities.
And when it comes to giving help and spreading joy in our local areas, we know no group does it better than Scouts.
Here are 7 ideas to put a smile on someone’s face and help your local community, one act of kindness at a time.
1. Spread positivity
Put a smile on someone’s face by leaving hidden notes for them to find. You could put mood-boosting bookmarks in library books, make painted pebbles to leave outside, or post positive postcards through letterboxes.
2. Gather donations
A great option to spread kindness is to collect and donate much-needed items to places where they can make a difference. Some ideas might be:
- Donating much need items to a food bank
- Creating comfort bags for people in hospital
- Giving clothing or products to a homeless shelter
- Donating period products to a women’s refuge
- Providing food and blankets for an animal shelter
- Giving toys and books to a children’s hospital
- Getting Braille books or large print books for a local library
There are lots of ways to do this. You might fundraise to buy the items needed. You could also ask for and set up donation points locally to collect items from the wider community.
If you do plan to fundraise to purchase donations, you can tie this in practising money-skills. Have a trip to a supermarket for Scouts to buy donations and see who can get the most with the cash they’ve raised.
3. Help local wildlife
You could make wildlife homes, such as for hedgehogs, bats, birds or bugs. You might choose to plant trees or bee-friendly flowers. Some other ideas might be putting out bird feeders or taking part in a conservation project. If you’re wanting to go a step further, why not create a local sensory garden, nature garden, or community vegetable allotment?
4. Fundraise for a local cause.
Choose a local charity or cause, then fundraise for them. Try to think outside the box if you want to try something different. Could you try walking the distance to the moon at the local park? Hold a sponsored 10k on a space hopper? Or, reach the height of Everest on an indoor climbing wall?
Some other ideas might be:
- running a quiz
- bag-packing
- washing cars
- sponsored events
- cycling or scootering a certain distance
- holding a bake sale
- putting on a fashion show
- setting up an art exhibit and selling the things you’ve made
5. Improve the local environment
Could you bring a new lease of life in your local area? You could brighten up a dull wall by creating a community mural, make some planters for outside the local library or organise a litter picking session. Just make sure you have the landowner’s permission before starting. For bigger changes, you might want to campaign to a local authority, such as an MP or council. For example, you could ask for a new road crossing or better lighting by a bus stop.
6. Adopt a ‘grandfriend'
See if you can find any older members of the community who might want some company, such as at a local care home. There are lots of ways you can make friends with them. You can write them letters, bake or paint together, host a quiz, play board games, have a sports day, read stories, or you might even put on an intergenerational talent show!
7. Share your skills!
We all know Scouts have lots of skills - so why not spread happiness and share them? You might want to volunteer to teach a technology class for your local community or set up a bike workshop. You could choose to organise a party for a care home, or write recipe cards for your local food bank for people to take and use.
