Making February Kindness Month
February is often looked upon as kindness month and February
17th is known as Random Acts of Kindness Day. We have decided to
promote kindness throughout the whole month at the Honeycomb Hub to send
positivity and love for each other into the world around us. Let’s encourage
everyone to make February kindness month. If you post on facebook or Instagram
try using #kindnessmonth #makingFebruarykindnessmonth.
I started this post by simply typing “kindness quotes” into
the search engine and found there were so many beautiful ones that we are going
to be posting a kindness quote on our facebook page every day throughout
February. However, I particularly liked this one:
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| Cooking for others. Photograph by Photographer Rachel Bell. |
No act of kindness,
however small, is ever wasted. Aesop.
I am a great person to have for an idea after an event but
this month I am determined to capture those thoughts and walk back and complete
them. For example, to the lady with a crying baby at the supermarket, I shall
offer to empty her trolley onto the checkout rather than just offering the
sympathetic smile while my mind focuses on what I’m cooking later, when someone
drops the things they are holding, I will help them to pick them up (a previous blog post about just this occurance -http://abeehoneycomb.blogspot.com/2017/11/what-would-you-do.html
- ) and when I see a mournful dog
on the street outside someone’s home, I will stop the car, ring the bell and
ask if their dog has got out. I am also determined to lose a little of my
British reserve by smiling and saying ‘Dumela’ to everyone I meet!
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| Kisses for a sad friend Photograph by Rachel Bell |
Quite often we find that the truest words come out of the
mouths of children. Occasionally this may be when we don’t want those honest
words to come out – “Mummy, has that lady got a baby in her tummy?” when your
friend, who is most definitely not pregnant, visits. They also see the world
through innocent eyes not tainted with any cynicism, envy and regret. I have a
friend who has 3 daughters with beautiful spirits. One day the youngest, Phoebe
aged 5, turned to her mother and said “Mummy, love can change the world.”
Absolutely, yes it can! Her mother shared it on facebook with the accompanying
#wow #never a truer word spoken #out of the mouths of babes. We can all learn
from Phoebe and those words are what is driving us with our promotion of
kindness month and in running the Honeycomb Hub generally.
We have been very fortunate to have benefitted from a lot of
kindness in the setting up of the Honeycomb Hub with donations, a generous
landlord and friends who would offer their time for sanding, building,
plastering, painting, wallpapering and a myriad other things – we could always
find a job for a volunteer! One of the things we are most grateful for is the monthly
donation we receive from St Leonards Church in Sherfield on Loddon which allows
us to offer free tea and coffee to everyone who comes in. We do have some visitors
who feel that they would still like to make a donation and so we have a
donations box which goes towards our chosen charity of the month.
Our Charity of the
Month for February is the BSPCA as we know being kind is not simply
reserved for humans. (https://www.facebook.com/bspcagaborone/)
As well as our charity box for any spare change you may have, we are also
collecting tins and bags of dog and cat food to take to the BSPCA. Keep an eye
on our facebook page too (https://www.facebook.com/WebstersHoneycomb
)for our puppy play dates coming to the Hub, when the BSPCA will bring a few of
their residents for cuddles and love. We also hope to have the puppies from
Dipeo nursery come for a visit – a true act of kindness when Leesha and her
team at Dipeo nursery discovered a Mum and 8 newborn puppies in a drain near
the nursery they fed them and worked with the BSPCA to rescue them. Leesha is
now adopting them at Dipeo nursery and will look after them until the puppies
are big enough to be adopted while the mum, named Dipeo, will stay with Leesha
at the nursery – such an awesome story!
The Kindness Elves are magical friends who love nothing more
than to sprinkle kindness and joy wherever they go!
They love to
visit your home and spread this happiness with children, encouraging them to do
small acts of kindness in their daily lives. This simple, yet powerful, idea of
spreading kindness amongst kids has become incredibly popular with parents and
teachers alike and we are thrilled that they have chosen to come and stay with
us. Not only that, they have told us they are bringing some friends who will be
prizes for our Capture the Kindness Poetry competition. A huge thank you to
Anna & The Kindness Elves for their generosity. Come for a visit and see
what they have been up to.
We have also become RAKtivists! The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation
believe in spreading kindness through schools, communities and homes and we are
very excited to have joined them. They are very inspiring and we encourage you
to join them too. https://www.randomactsofkindness.org/get-inspired
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| A friend in need is a friend indeed! Photograph by Rachel Bell |
Competition Time: Capture the Kindness
RAK have been running a photography competition entitled
capture kindness for the last 11 weeks. We encourage you to join in theirs but
we are also going to run our own version for the month of February. Our Capture
the Kindness competition will have two parts.
1.
Firstly, a photography competition capturing
moments of kindness. I am extremely excited to announce that it will be judged
by photographer Rachel Bell. The winners will have their photographs as the
first artworks in our gallery for local (and not so local) artists and they
will receive a free months membership to the studio (adults) or free monthly
bundle (children).
2.
A poetry competition for children of all ages.
The poetry will be judged by The Honeycomb-Kalahwood Writers Collective and the
prizes include a free monthly bundle of classes and play sessions as well as a
donation of a Kindness Elves set from the the Kindness Elves at The Imagination Tree. Full details of both
competitions will be released on 1st February on our facebook page
or please e-mail thehoneycombhub@outlook.com
for more details.
#makingFebruarykindnessmonth
So I urge you, make February your kindness month too. Not
sure how to start? Here are a few ideas.
1.
Follow our facebook page where we shall be
posting about kindness each day, sharing acts of kindness we have witnessed and
giving ideas.
2.
Print off our February kindness calendar
(available on our facebook page or send us your email address for us to e-mail
you a copy.)
3.
Take a
look at the Random Acts of Kindness page and see if you too fancy becoming a
RAKtivist.
4.
Create a Kindness Jar. Every time you see a
member of your family being kind, write it on a note and collect them in a jar.
At the end of the month, sit around the table together and read all the acts of
kindness you collected over the month – great for getting the warm, fuzzy
feelings. (Also an amazing tool to use in the classroom)
5.
Get writing – could you be inspired to write a
kindness poem for our competition? Or perhaps a story about a kind act or make
a zine about different ways to be kind? We would love to see what you create
and share it with our community.
6.
We love these Random Acts of Kindness cards and
the thought of placing them somewhere public others may see them e.g. Tuck them
behind mirrors in a public wash room, put them into library books or slip them
into friend’s packed lunches. Sure to bring a smile and a glow to the finder of
the message. Also a great craft idea for making your own! https://www.blessingmanifesting.com/2014/08/random-acts-of-kindness-cards.html/
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| littlerandomacts.tumblr.com |
7.
Check out http://littlerandomacts.tumblr.com/
for beautiful little random acts of kindness. They will make your heart smile
and you may just feel inspired for your next act of kindness!
We hope you will join us in making February Kindness Month
and we would love to hear all about any kind moments you have had, to read any
kindness stories you have written and are very excited to see the entries for
our competitions.
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| My baby group early 2013 - our weekly meet ups were me making time for myself and my friends and allowed me to reset for the following week. The ultimate in kindness has been shown through their support, love and exchange of text messages when we were all up feeding at crazy-o'clock in the morning. |
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