Random Acts of Kindness Day
Amidst the rush of everyday life, pausing to offer a small act of kindness can initiate waves of positivity and uplift spirits.
On Random Act of Kindness Day some of our awesome indie businesses share heart-warming stories of kindness in action, and show how small gestures can make a big difference in the lives of others and spread a little joy throughout the year.
Brighten your day with this burst of positivity. >>
Horsebox Coffee Co
“Paul is one of our newest baristas. He joined us last September and is based at Milton park. He is such a hit with the customers, always got time for a chat and a laugh, and forever positive even on a cold wet early Monday morning. Recently two of his regulars clubbed together to buy him fishing vouchers, his absolute favourite thing to do on his days off. Very kind and made Paul’s day.”
Emily, Horsebox Coffee Co
YogaVenue
“We had a client who at the time was a single parent to her son, so found it tricky to get childcare to attend classes in the evenings. A friend of hers kindly bought her a gift voucher for YogaVenue, then turned up at her home on a Sunday evening declaring that she was her childcare for the next few weeks so that her friend may attend a Sunday evening yoga class at our studio. We thought this was a really lovely gesture, a random act of kindness.”
Caroline, YogaVenue
Yellow Submarine
“Yellow Submarine’s social enterprise café is home to a traineeship which supports people with learning disabilities and autism into the world of work. Trainees learn every aspect of café work, from serving on the till to stacking the dishwasher and emptying the bins! Customers have been visiting the Life Changing café for the past 10 years due to the quality of coffee, food and service, it just ‘so happens’ that they may leave with a different perception of ‘disability’ too. As a small way to say thank you to our customers for their support and loyalty each member of the team gave free coffee to random customers throughout the day on Valentine’s Day to give a little bit of love back into the community. We hope this Random Act of Kindness brought a little bit of happiness to our lovely customers days and encouraged them to spread the love too!”
Ella, Yellow Submarine
Y.O.U Underwear
“Kindness is core to how we work as a business, but one of the best examples is with our donations and recycling. We collect bras for Smalls for All, period products for local charity Wings and also end-of-life underwear, socks and tights to recycle and so stop them ending up in landfill. People are always coming into our shop to drop items off and the collective ‘thank yous’ are always really meaningful. We’re grateful to our customers for donating the items, they’re grateful to us for collecting and saving them, and it makes a big difference to the people who receive the items too. Sometimes there’s a story behind the items that are being donated, for example bras that used to belong to a family member who’s recently died, so there can also be a really touching personal story behind the items too. It definitely makes my day and the messages are so lovely to read!”
Sarah, Y.O.U Underwear
Ellivase Hynobirthing
“Preparing to welcome baby takes time, love and commitment. With a soon to be big-brother (8 years old) I wanted him to feel included and special and sourced a special wrapper saying ” Big Brother” around a nice bar of chocolate! He was very happy.”
Emma, Ellivase Hypnobirthing
Julie Cooper Nutrition
“Several of my regular clients this month have separately posted lovely testimonials about their nutrition journey with me. I can’t begin to say how much I value and appreciate these kindnesses. This is the reason I started my business – to help clients achieve their goals, improve their symptoms and most importantly, feel better. A shout out on social media means so much to me. So…..thank-you very much.”
Julie, Julie Cooper Nutrition
Happy Cakes
“One of our wonderful regular customers tweeted about how she regularly sends her lovely Dad in the Isle of Wight some edible treats. On this occasion she’d ordered him some very posh Betty’s fruit cake. Unfortunately some cheeky badgers got in to his house through his cat flap and devoured the lot!
We messaged our customer and asked if it was ok to send him a gift. Just for fun we posted him a surprise parcel of some “Not for Badgers” fruit cake to replace it!
He was delighted and his daughter messaged us to say ‘Julia! The anti badger packaging made my Dad laugh so much! You sent so much sunshine to him, he was utterly joyful over the phone today, he just couldn’t believe someone had gone to so much trouble for him, and the cake is exquisite! That was so kind of you, it’s brought us all sunshine and laughter! Thank you! X'”
Julia, Happy Cakes
Ducky Zebra
“We’ve got some lovely things planned for random acts of kindness day, including covering the cost of 20 x hot drinks for unexpecting customers at Flo’s Café and offering customers the opportunity to ‘win the value of their order back’. We will randomly select a customer who has bought from Ducky Zebra’s website this year.”
Sally, Ducky Zebra