Friday, October 20, 2017

#KindnessMatters



Recently I was contacted by the lovely Sabrina from Harper Collins about this new initiative, #KindnessMatters The idea of the project is to do something small and kind for someone else.  And this goes along with this lovely book Kindness by Jaime Thurston, the founder of 52 Lives.  I absolutely loved this idea and I love taking part in this, even belatedly.

During September, I wasn't in the very best shape mentally.  You can see mid-September I just stopped blogging and the two are very much linked.  I have a pretty good self-care routine and structure going and I could identify that my priority had to be myself for awhile.  The kindness that was best shared was with myself.  Doing nice things for myself, being kind to myself while I worked on my own mental health issues and everything else gets to take a back burner.

But that was last month.  And I still wanted to bring up this idea and project.  The book that Harper Collins sent over is an absolutely gorgeous little hardback book and it's filled with colourful pages and ideas about how kindness can be shared and spread.  I feel like I'd love to make these acts of kindness a regular thing, taking lots of inspiration from this book.  Today, though, I wanted to talk about one regular kindness that I already do, and it's something very close to my heart.



This is my local supermarket.  In the last year, my local store has increased the drop off point to include double the amount of space for people to donate in their store.  I fear it is because the need for local families to receive food from our local food banks has increased.  Despite living in a very affluent area there is nowhere that is free from struggling families that need a little extra support.

The reason that food banks in particular are an area that I feel very strongly about is because I grew up in a household on the poverty line.  My family needed the extra support food banks provided and those boxes of food saved my life.  Every single week, without fail, I pick up something and add it to my weekly shop in order to donate to my local food bank.  Because I remember what a lifeline it was and because I am no longer in a position where I struggle financially.  I am happy to do my small bit in order to help and support those who are still in that position.

I usually vary the items that I donate, though always taking inspiration from the list of recommended items that are always much in demand: tinned vegetables and meats, cartons of milk and juice.  But I also try to donate non-food items such as toothpaste, deodorant, cleaning supplies, nappies or wet wipes, feminine hygiene products, shampoo.  It's only a few pounds a week that I add to my weekly shop but I feel like it'll mean a lot to some local family.  I do it every week and I feel like if every one who is able to do so also donated more regularly it would make a huge difference in all of our communities.

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