When: November 13th
What: As we head into the winter months, people’s moods tend to drop along with the temperature and darker days. But the cold months also provide opportunities to brighten someone else’s day by offering the simple kindness of raking the leaves from a lawn or shoveling a driveway after a snowstorm. Reminding people to look beyond cultural barriers and spread kindness every day is World Kindness Day, celebrated annually on Nov. 13.
Background: World Kindness Day was created by the World Kindness Movement to coincide with their first conference in 1998. The overall mission of the day is to practice kindness and to look beyond ourselves and identify with all cultures, races and religions.
Story Pitch: Since an act of kindness can be great or small, World Kindness Day provides a chance for everyone to take part. Service groups and nonprofit organizations can promote volunteerism, an act that can ripple out to the local and global community. Groups or companies that deal with issues of self esteem or mental health can focus on the importance of being kind to yourself. Since one of the main goals of World Kindness Day is to remove international and cultural barriers between people, groups that deal with cultural exchange and understanding can demonstrate how unifying an act of kindness can be across cultures.
Story Hook: Random acts of kindness have been shown to have a wide range of both mental and even physical benefits, but what are other reasons to practice acts of kindness? Keep the following in mind while making your pitch:
- What are some everyday situations in which people can practice kindness?
- What are some acts of kindness specific to neighborhoods, workplaces, and even families?
- How can an act of kindness impact our global community?
- How can acts of kindness also be extended to animals and the environment?
Tips: Community service groups in a pitching area can be a good source of ideas and stories about how a seemingly small act of kindness has made someone’s life better, so be sure to provide contact information. A person who has felt the impact of kindness would also make a good source.
Resources:
International Community Foundation
(619) 336-2250
lisa(at)icfdn.org
www.icfdn.org
The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation
(800) 660-2811
info(at)actsofkindness.org
www.actsofkindness.org
VolunteerMatch
(415) 241-6865
news(at)volunteermatch.org
www.volunteermatch.org
World Kindness Day
kindness(at)kindness.sg
www.worldkindness.org.sg/worldkindnessday.html
–Researched, compiled & written by Nicholas Testa
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