Today – November 13th – is World Kindness Day. It was declared in 1998 by humanitarian groups that wanted to encourage people everywhere to help create a kinder world.
At United Way, kindness is the theme that runs through everything we do.
Our Vision is to create strong, empowered communities without barriers – communities where people can thrive. To accomplish that, our Mission is to improve lives, build community and ignite action.
Kindness brings us together as an organization, and as an alliance of social service agencies. Along with our donors and volunteers, we share a strong commitment to helping others through kindness.
It’s often said that acts of kindness are random, and many of them are. For instance: the stranger who holds a door open for you; the neighbor who shovels your walk; the friend who buys you lunch. These random acts are demonstrations of generosity and caring, and they make our lives better.
When it comes to making our world better, United Way pursues strategies that are aimed at generating substantial, sustainable change. With advice from knowledgeable community representatives, United Way Halton & Hamilton invests donor dollars in programs that address #UNIGNORBLE social issues.
Those issues include domestic violence, mental illness, unemployment, homelessness, child and youth supports, education inequality, social isolation, poverty and food insecurity.
This past year, more than 200,000 people across our region benefited from the kindness of United Way donors and volunteers. In total, 65 United Way-supported agencies offered 129 specialized programs.
World Kindness Day is a great reminder to us that random, and not-so-random, acts of kindness make all the difference. This is especially important because kindness is infectious. This phenomenon – that one act of kindness cascades and leads to another – has been documented by altruism researchers at Stanford University.
So I would like to thank all of you for the kindness you show others every day. And for making good things happen by demonstrating your Local Love.
Brad Park
President & CEO
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