Random Acts of Kindness week is this week. Starting from Sunday 11th February and culminating in Random Acts of Kindness day on Saturday, 17th February.
The campaign aims to highlight the power of small acts of kindness and how it can benefit individuals who being kind to others.
This is similar to the founding of Emmaus. One night, a man called Georges was brought to Abbé Pierre after a failed suicide attempt. He had spent 20 years in prison and had nowhere else to go. However, instead of offering help to Georges directly, Abbe Pierre did not offer him help, instead asking Georges to help him building houses for homeless mothers. In doing so, he gave Georges a reason to live.
“Whatever else he might have given me – money, home, somewhere to work – I’d have still tried to kill myself again. What I was missing, and what he offered, was something to live for.” Georges – the first Emmaus companion
Emmaus continues this principle through to today. Companions, who live at Emmaus communities, seek to help others in various ways through solidarity. There is also a science behind this, showing that small acts of kindness can be beneficial for people’s mental and physical health.
Emmaus recently commemorated the 70th anniversary of the Uprising of Kindness speech, an appeal on the radio by Abbe Pierre is 1954 after a woman froze to death sleeping on the streets of Paris. Emmaus UK marked this by launching the #BeMoreKind campaign.