Since our founding, Royal Neighbors members have been caring for others during times of celebration and sorrow – and much of it has been rooted in the concept of simple kindness. From the suffragettes who worked to secure equal voting rights to the many who have sewn masks during the COVID-19 pandemic, members took their desire to serve out into their communities. And they made a difference.
This legacy continues today, 125 years after our founding, and we’d like to celebrate all the ways we can continue to make a difference in our very own neighborhoods.
Please join us in our 125 Random Acts of Kindness campaign.
During each of the months of October, November, and December, we are encouraging our members to do one purposeful, kind thing for someone else. It won’t cost you much, if anything at all, and it might make someone else’s day much brighter. So, pick up that piece of litter, purchase that extra cup of coffee to share, and put away that wayward cart in the parking lot!
Sometimes all it takes is a little extra effort to make a big difference.
We would love to hear how you’re spreading kindness. Please email Amy Finn at Amy.Finn@royalneighbors.org and include a photo if applicable. We will be sharing stories on our social media outlets and in The Royal Neighbor online magazine.
To help you get started, here are some ideas. Or, better yet, come up with your own and share them with us!
Random Acts of Kindness Include:
- Purchase coffee for the person in line behind you
- Create a post on social media about an organization you support & why you are inspired to do so
- Adopt a family in need during the holidays
- Help a neighbor with yard work
- Send a “thinking of you” card to family or friends
- Walk a someone’s dog or at the animal shelter
- Rake/pick-up leaves
- Give an unexpected, meaningful compliment
- Let someone cut in front of you in line
- Buy a warm meal for someone in need
- Stop to assist someone who looks lost
- Pick up litter on the street during your walk
- Take the time to write a great online review for a restaurant/shop that you love
- Learn CPR
- Send a care package to a service member
- Bring treats to your local fire station
- Write a thank you note to your mail carrier
- Smile at someone
- Donate blood
- Sign up for a bone marrow registry (bethematch.org)
- Sign up for a shift at a local soup kitchen
- Donate a vacation day
- Submit a “Shout Out” for a colleague
- Scrape ice/snow off a neighbor’s car after you’ve finished doing yours
- Call your mom/dad just to say, “I Love You!”
- Forgive someone who has wronged you
- Donate to a friend’s favorite charity in their name
- Offer to help someone carrying a large/heavy load
- Hold the door open
- Be a good listener
- Clean up someone else’s mess
- Do a 5k for a good cause
- Leave money on a vending machine for someone to find
- Make dinner for a neighbor
- Leave letters of encouragement on people’s cars
- Participate in an Angel Tree during the holidays
- Thank a teacher with a small gift
- Donate your old clothes
- Shovel a neighbor’s driveway/sidewalk after a snow
- Plant a tree
- Do a favor without asking anything in return
- Pay for a stranger’s library fees
- Send a letter to a friend instead of a text
- Snap a photo for a couple/family
- Leave a generous tip
- Mentor a colleague or child
- Foster an animal
- Adopt an animal
- Make someone a homemade blanket or scarf
- Leave some change on a wishing fountain
- Bake cookies for your neighbors
- Put your phone away when you’re with others
- Purchase local artwork
- Write a list of things you love about someone
- Babysit/Dogsit/Catsit for free
- Pay for someone’s groceries behind you in line
- Give up a good parking spot
- Send a box of your favorite donuts, bagels or muffins to a construction site
- Send flowers to a nursing home
- Write an encouraging note outside with sidewalk chalk to brighten the day of people who see it
- Gather up recyclable items and take to the recycling center
- Make a simple bird feeder
- Help a loved one with something they’ve been struggling to complete (homework, big work project, something around the house)
- Give a hug to someone in your immediate family or in your household
- Send a care package to someone you miss
- Donate any extra canned food to a food bank
- Donate, volunteer or raise awareness for a charity/non-profit that you’re passionate about
- Buy some pre-wrapped treats and deliver them to local healthcare workers
- Tell a joke to someone and make them laugh
- Have a conversation with your neighbor
- Clean your home
- Say “yes” when a family member asks to spend time with you
- Practice patience
- Say a prayer for someone else
- Put an inspiring note on your window (home or office) for a passerby to see
- Offer to run an errand for someone in an at-risk group
- Offer to read a book or teach a home school lesson to a friend’s child(ren)
- Volunteer with Junior Achievement
- It’s important to have compassion for yourself, too! Make time each day to show yourself some self-care
- Find a favorite photo you have of someone and send it to them
- Support a local author and purchase their book
- Take a day to say no complaints
- Hold the elevator for someone
- Give up your seat for someone else
- Lend someone a book or movie that you love
- Take the time to appreciate the sunrise or sunset
- Decrease your carbon footprint – walk or bike to work, choose glass instead of plastic
- Decline the use of a straw
- Send a gift card to someone for no reason
- Do an extra chore
- Wash someone’s car
- Buy an extra candy bar to share
- Give your umbrella to a stranger (or keep an extra in your car to share)
- Pay for someone’s parking meter
- Give a pen to a stranger
- Water the flowers
- Buy a movie ticket for the person behind you
- Take a new colleague to lunch
- Spread encouragement online
- Take the dog for an extra walk
- Feed the birds
- Make a thank you card for the librarian
- Leave heads up pennies on the sidewalk
- Tell someone they did a good job
- Teach someone something new
- Bury treasure at the playground
- Turn off the water while brushing your teeth
- Put a nice note in someone’s lunch
- Wave at kids on the school bus
- Donate bus tokens to your local hospital
- Send dessert to another table
- Hand out tissues during cold & flu season
- Bring your neighbor’s garbage can up for them
- Save an insect
- Participate in “Meatless Monday”
- Go leather free for a day
- Support your local museum by visiting or purchasing something from the gift shop
- Adopt an animal shelter worker
- Use paper instead of Styrofoam or plastic
- Pause for an animal crossing the road
- Clean the microwave
- Introduce a colleague to a contact in your professional network
- Tell your boss what you appreciate about them
- Be a cheerleader for someone else’s idea or project
- Shop small / shop local
Participants must make sure to follow local and CDC guidelines when gathering in person or volunteering in a group. A great alternative to meeting in person is to have all members participate via a virtual meeting platform.
