This year's Scottish Housing Day was on 17 September, and the theme of the day was ‘Everybody needs good neighbours’.  When Almond’s Community Engagement Officer, Jane Deary, discovered this, she realised it was the perfect time to launch her BeeKind initiative.

It was a couple of years ago when Jane read The Kindness Club on Mapleberry Lane by Helen J Rolfe and she knew that one day she would love to run a kindness campaign.  When, on her first day at Almond, she was greeted with a neon sign illuminating the word ‘kindness’, it was indeed a sign!

Jane explains her thoughts behind the initiative: “The BeeKind yearlong project aims to inspire and recognise kind acts for others, the community, nature and yourself!  It is about fostering positive social connections, promoting kindness, and supporting local initiatives that benefit the environment and individuals.  The world feels that bit tougher at the moment, and a little kindness can make all the difference.”

After reading the first book, Jane was recommended to try Why Kindness is Good for You by ‘kindness zsar’ Dr David Hamilton which she loved. She decided to take a punt and ask Dr Hamilton if he was available to speak at the launch event, and excited is rather an understatement as to how she felt when he said that he was!

As key speaker at the event, which was well attended by local community partners, David spoke about kindness and stress as being on two opposite sides of a seesaw.  If kindness is high, stress is low and vice versa. 

He shared in detail various studies that prove kindness is good for your health, it’s “cardio protective”, releasing tension in the arteries.  It can reduce inflammation and positively impact the rate of biological aging! And perhaps one of the most important factors is that kindness is contagious.  The ripple effect of one person being kind can reach over one hundred others.

In addition to this inspiring speech, guests were entertained by performers from OpporCHANCEity Knocks Variety Theatre and pupils from Riverside and Letham Primary Schools; the choir who sung their kindness song and the kindness ambassadors who shared their poem. 

Community partners and volunteers also took to the stage to explain what kindness meant to their organisation. All said they would not exist without the kindness of others.

The event concluded with closing remarks from The Lord Lieutenant, Ms Moira Niven MBE.

The BeeKind campaign has a calendar of monthly themes planned for the coming the year to encourage small acts of kindness and promote inclusion, which involve offering wellbeing activities in partnership with other community organisations as well as creating pollinator-friendly green spaces to support bees and biodiversity.  With this mind, guests left with a little goodie pack which included some branded items including a seed pack of wildflowers.