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Five ideas for being kind on Random Acts of Kindness Day 2023

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A “Random Act Of Kindness” is uplifting for the recipient and beautiful to witness.

Our team member Jo recently witnessed a moment of kindness while sitting in a queue of stationary traffic. Jo saw an arm appear out of the window of the car in front and hand a bunch of Tulips to an elderly lady who was being assisted down the hill. Jo recalled that the smiles on their faces spoke volumes.

Have you ever had your entire day improve because of a gesture of kindness from someone? Would you like the opportunity to make someone’s day a little better or change the trajectory of their life?

To celebrate Random Acts of Kindness Day in our way, we recommend five projects from our community that you could sign up for or visit today (or any day) to spread some kindness.

Get to know your neighbours at Brightons Fitzherberts Community Hub – The Community Hub’s mission is to reduce food poverty and social isolation by welcoming and nourishing all with food, friendship, and fun! The hub offers a safe, inclusive space for all, where local people can come to eat and form lasting friendships.

The Real Junk Food Project Brighton runs a daily ‘pay as you feel’ community cafe from the hub using food that would otherwise go to landfill so in getting lunch at the restaurant you are supporting yourself, the community and the environment! You can even ‘pay ahead’ in a random act of kindness and buy a stranger their lunch.

Encourage someone to exercise – Brighton Table Tennis Club, based in the Fitzerberts centre, prioritises working with people who have the least access but would benefit most from playing and being part of the BTTC community. Thanks to their mass participation community model, anyone, anywhere in the world, can join their community and become an AllStar TT just by signing up and playing games.They also run open sessions for everyone who would like to develop their skills as a table tennis player. Do you know someone who could do with some endorphins or some fun? Suggest a game of table tennis.

Give the gift of language – Conversation Over Borders offers free online one-to-one English conversation tutoring for refugees and asylum seekers. They bring displaced people and the wider community together to facilitate human connection, reduce social isolation and build confidence in spoken English. Classes run for 8-week blocks. Working with the same person twice a week, you do not need to be a trained teacher to apply, and the COB team provides teaching support and resources for all of their volunteers. In volunteering for COB, you will show someone enormous kindness, empowering them to feel more confident, less isolated, and more welcome when they need it most. You never know; you may learn a thing or two yourself and make a friend for life along the way.

If volunteering sounds too much for you right now, then why not rehome your old devices and donate your tech to them here >.

Cheer someone on – On the 2nd of April, 2023, thousands of incredible people will partake in the Brighton Marathon weekend. You never know who might need a simple smile or a clap of encouragement to get them through. So if you have a little time to spare, get down to the sidelines, cheer someone on, and support those runners while they run to raise money and change people’s lives.

Give a virtual gift to a young homeless person – For as little as five pounds you can give a virtual gift through the Clock Tower Sanctuary website and buy anything from a hot roast dinner to support back into education. Your kindness and generosity will help homeless young people in Brighton & Hove begin to change their lives and find a way forward.

These are a few ideas for spreading kindness on Random Acts of Kindness Day and every day! A small act of generosity or thoughtfulness could change the trajectory of someone’s life and maybe even yours. The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation has compiled a list of free ways to 25 FREE Ways to Celebrate Random Acts of Kindness Day.

These small acts could change someone’s life forever.

Movingsounds and the Power of Music

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Older people have been by far the hardest hit by the covid pandemic. Almost eight out of nine deaths involving Covid in England and Wales have been among the over-65s, and that’s before you even consider the mental health effects of months and months of fear, shielding and isolation.

A CIC called Movingsounds has set out to tackle isolation and loneliness through music. Throughout lockdown members of Movingsounds have gathered outside community centres, homes and in gardens’ to perform to older people who have had no social contact for months. Participants have described it as ‘truly joyous and emotional’.

Movingsounds is grounded in the belief that ‘Creativity has the power to benefit all’. Facilitators organise and run arts-based workshops that bring multiple well-being benefits…‘They energise everyone and open up new possibilities for a better world’.

Now that some restrictions have been lifted we were finally able to visit a Movingsounds workshop at the Chapel Royal in Brighton, which is home to The Hop 50+ café and centre with over 1,000 regular customers. Participants have described it as their ‘lifeline’.

The workshop was facilitated by one of the founding directors Keith Ellis and professional performer Mike Potter. From the moment we arrived Mike and Keith radiated warmth and energy. Mike with his welcoming eyes and Keith with his gold shoes and a metallic gold shirt, they welcomed us all in with huge smiles.

Many members of the group had problems with memory and mobility making it a seemingly possible task to get everyone up on their feet, however by the end of the hour session everyone was up, singing along and playing music with the energy of children in a school playground. It was beautiful, moving and energising.

Keith and Mike intuitively understood when to get the audience participating and when to just let us enjoy their performance. One of Keith’s opening lines was ‘Let’s make the most of this experience of being alive’.

They guided the group through an ensemble of tunes from traditional english ballads, jazz classics and a rendition of Cab Calloway’s Hi-De-Ho. They gave everyone percussion instruments to perform with and even the shyest were gently encouraged to play. By the end of the session everyone was performing together with surprisingly impressive results.

It’s hard to put into words how this experience made me feel. I felt a twinge of sadness for those that had been so isolated in lockdown and a bit angry that there isn’t more being done to protect the arts and support the people who use their skills to do such life changing work. But mostly I felt honoured and grateful for the opportunity to be part of something so positive and to be able to connect with all of these people through music.

It’s rare for someone not to have felt the life enhancing benefits of music but to those who have been stuck in isolation over the last year or so it can be even more magical. Studies show that listening to music provides many health benefits besides mood elevation, including pain reduction, stress management, improved sleep quality, increased IQ & mental alertness and this is even more prevalent in the elderly and people living with dementia. The Movingsounds workshop was living proof of this.

We must continue to ensure the arts are funded so that groups like Movingsounds are able to continue their great work in communities benefiting audiences one song at a time.