Small acts of kindness

From Monday 18th until Sunday 25th May, it’s Mental Health Awareness Week in the UK and this year’s theme is kindness. Taken from the song ‘Kindness Matters’, written by the Mental Health Foundation: ‘At times like these, when the world feels upside down, kindness can be the key to turning things around.’ In honour of this week, we have put together a list of 5 simple acts of kindness that can be enjoyed by all.

Start a happy heart hunt

Get crafty with little ones at home and make a heart or many hearts out of any object you can find around the house - even food wrappers or old newspaper. Encourage all your friends to do the same. Then, in a few days, take a family walk with members of your household to search for other hearts in the windows of other houses.

Take part in a global photography project 

@weareyourneighbours is a community project created in celebration of those who stayed at home during lockdown. Head over to Instagram to see the growing collection of photographs of our neighbours around the world. Submit your entry via email of any neighbours you’ve got to know at social distanced street party’s or at the weekly clap for our carers. 

Send love from afar

Let a loved one know you are thinking of them the old fashioned way. Papier have a wonderful collection of love from afar cards, including ‘Until we hug again’ and ‘Spread joy not germs’, all of which can be sent directly to the recipient the next day for as little as £3.50. A little gesture such as this can truly transform someone’s day, from an elderly relative living on their own, to a doctor in quarantine away from their family.

Read some good news

An act of kindness for yourself is to read some good news! Upworthy is a platform sharing positive news from around the globe. One recent post shares a story about how in Pakistan, 63,000 people made unemployed due to covid-19 have been hired to help plant 10 billion trees! 

Nominate a hero

Our holidays for heroes campaign has been created so that we can give away 15 holidays to Corfu, including flights, to the heroes supporting the fight against Covid-19.If you know somebody who has gone over and above, simply head over to our competition page to nominate them, with a small explanation as to why.