5 ideas to celebrate World Kindness Day
World Kindness Day is celebrated on 13th November and this year we can probably all agree that compassion for others is needed more than ever.
But acts of kindness don’t need to involve grand gestures. Showing someone that you care could be as simple as a smile or remembering to say thank you.
From donating your time to others, to making time to look after yourself, Destination Chesterfield shares stories from local businesses to inspire kindness today and every day.
1. Donate your time and knowledge
If money is tight, but you still want to give back to your community, why not share your time and skills with others.
NLT Training is running a free programme to support job hunters, offering practical help and support including work experience.
ActionCOACH Chesterfield is providing free coaching webinars on marketing, mindset and finance to help businesses and charities navigate through challenging times. And Managing Director and Certified Business Coach, Fiaz Sadiq has set aside 5 complimentary hours per week to coach 5 businesses or charities throughout lockdown.
SEO CoPilot has volunteered to build a website for Chesterfield homeless charity, Pathways, as well as helping to expand the charity’s online presence. In the future, the team would like to support an animal shelter or similar organisation, and everyone is keen to do their bit to help the local community.
2. Support local charities
You feel good when you help others and it was fantastic to see so many people using City Taxi’s new food delivery app over the summer, raising more than £7,000 for Ashgate Hospicecare and Chesterfield Royal Hospital. For World Kindness Day, City Taxis is planning to surprise the staff at Ashgate Hospicecare with a complimentary afternoon tea delivery, working with a local cafe. And the company will also be inviting people to nominate a loved one to win a home delivery through its competition, running across its Facebook, Twitter and Instagram channels.
Over the festive period there are several initiatives you can get involved with to make Christmas magical for underprivileged local children. Greatest Hits Radio North Derbyshire and Chesterfield FC Community Trust are just two organisations that have made it their mission to ensure every child in the area has a present to open on Christmas day.
Find more local charities to support here. And if you’d like to track all of your fundraising and volunteering, you can do that for free with the Chesterfield-based Investors in Community platform.
3. Be there for others
Isolation and lockdown can be very lonely times and so it’s important to make time to check in with your friends, family and colleagues and find ways to come together wherever possible – whether that is in person or virtually.
Dronfield Heritage Trust has provided online activities to support wellbeing, as well as pulling out all the stops to squeeze in a wedding for a very grateful couple prior to the current lockdown period.
The University of Derby has been inviting businesses to sign up to its employee mental health support scheme and nearly 2000 employers took part in the first phase of the project, helping people to stay in or return to work.
4. Be creative
You could combine your kind spirit with your creativity like the team at Geeks Headquarters, which has volunteered its 3D printer to produce over 450 mask straps for local medical facilities during the Coronavirus pandemic.
And a variety of commemorative window and wall displays were created ahead of Remembrance Day by service users and support teams of Chesterfield-based specialist care provider, Heathcotes. A great way to mark the day in place of traditional services that were not possible due to the lockdown period.
5. Be kind to yourself
Possibly the most important variety of kindness is self-care.
You could book in something to look forward to post lockdown – from a make up tutorial at ProMUA or reflexology and reiki at 360 Wellbeing to a coaching sessions at Stanedge Golf Club.
There are plenty of restaurants offering dining at home. And it’s definitely okay to take a peek at our gift ideas from local businesses; you deserve an early Christmas treat.
Thank you to the businesses that have supported this blog post. If you are interested in getting involved and helping to raise the profile of Chesterfield and Derbyshire, please email tara.underhill@chesterfield.co.uk.
