The Victoria Foundation is inviting everyone to help inspire smiles with Random Act of Kindness Day, which happens on the first Friday of November.
Since 2008, this special day has brought Canadian communities together by engaging citizens in small acts of kindness and generosity.
At Selkirk Montessori School in Victoria, a class of grade 7 and 8 students are making posters for Random Act of Kindness day.
“The students are creating posters with really uplifting messages, and we’re going to go and stand on the corner of Gorge and Jutland and hold them up for all the people going by and hopefully brighten their day,” says their teacher, Judy Rockwell.
“Kindness is actually one of our school goals,” Rockwell continues. “Teaching empathy and compassion and modelling those things. Those are skills that kids aren’t born with, so we felt it was really important to go out in the community and try to make a difference and brighten people’s day.”
Sandra Richardson is the CEO of the Victoria Foundation. “The beauty of this is it doesn’t have to cost anything – a bright smile, opening a door for someone, paying for somebody else’s parking, helping someone across the street – just so many little things that we can do, and what a difference it can make in somebody else’s day.”
It was Karma Wolski, the Selkirk Montessori School’s administrative assistant, who heard about Random Act of Kindness Day three years ago.
“I took it to a staff meeting,” says Wolski, “and everyone said ‘yes!’ unanimously, and so, every year I bring it up at this time. All the teachers say ‘yes, we’re going to do it’, and it’s just been great to see how each class interprets it and gets involved.”
“All of our staff are kindness champions,” says Richardson, and on RAK day, staff of the Victoria Foundation will be at the Bay Centre in downtown Victoria. “They’ll be sitting there at a table in the mall, handing out apples or kindness cards, and just asking you to do something kind, and pass it on.”
The Victoria Foundation is also encouraging people to take a selfie of themselves or a group that are taking part in an act of kindness, and posting it to social media with the hashtag #RAKdayYYJ. Those selfies will be entered in a draw to win $500 dollars to the charity of your choice.
Veronica Cooper
