A kind deed can brighten up anybody’s day, and some Bachelor of Education students are hoping to do just that this Friday.
They will be giving out free hot beverages and baked goods in celebration of Random Act of Kindness Day on Nov. 4 in James Dunn Hall.
Random Act of Kindness originally started in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont., and came to Fredericton four years ago. It is a day to celebrate the small good deeds that occur every day, and to help encourage them throughout the year.
The Fredericton Community Foundation helps organize the Fredericton event, but they use a hands-off approach. They want the good deeds to happen naturally.
Their biggest role is printing and distributing over 20,000 RAK cards for those who want them. The cards are to encourage people to help pay the kindness forward. They read:
“You have been touched by Random Act of Kindness Day. Please return the favour and perform a Random Act of Kindness for a fellow citizen! Pass this card on … and pay it forward.”
Nick Sehl, a board member at the Fredericton Community Foundation, said a kind act can have a big effect on someone’s day.
“It doesn’t have to be much at all,” said Sehl. “It can be just something from a kind word, a simple gesture of holding a door or helping someone carry something heavy or giving them a nice treat. Just something like that has the power to change someone’s day.”
When the FCF brought RAK to Fredericton, they decided to ease their way in. They printed and distributed the cards and stood back to see what people would do.
“We had the cards available in the community, and we said ‘Let’s see what happens,’” said Sehl. “And people in our community really got involved. They picked up the cards and they bought a coffee for the person behind them in line or they paid for the meter for the person next to them. It really took hold.”
Monica Rosvall, one of the B.Ed. students involved in Friday’s event, said you never know what kind of day someone is having.
“I think we need to remember that we never know how our actions will impact others,” said Rosvall.
“Although we non-nonchalantly threw a smile at someone, that smile very well could have been the first positive interaction they had that day, or at all.”
Sehl said Random Act of Kindness Day is to remind people how doing something good for others can make you feel.
“I think it’s something we do every day, and it’s in us as a community,” said Sehl. “But I think it’s good for this one day to just highlight it, to remind everyone that this is something can be done every day and should be done every day and this is why we should do it. Because it feels good.”
