- Around 1,500 attend first Kindness Festival
- Event took place at St Aubin to recognise work of local charities
- 21 charities took part in the day, which also included entertainment
- See more pictures below
THE generosity and compassion of Jersey’s voluntary sector was celebrated this weekend during the Island’s first Kindness Festival.
An estimated 1,500 people attended the St Aubin festival on Saturday, which was held to recognise the work undertaken by the Island’s charities.
A total of 21 charities attended the day-long event, which also featured entertainment from local singers and a magician.
Brian Clarke, the festival organiser and founder of charity Kindness Connects, which was celebrating its first birthday, said the event was a ‘huge success’.
‘We had a constant stream of people coming through all the time, which was absolutely brilliant,’ he said. ‘An atmosphere of loving kindness permeated the whole thing – it was totally joyful in every way.
‘It was an opportunity for the charities to meet and greet a great deal of people who they don’t normally get to speak to. It was something completely different to what the Island is used to and I know that some of the charities gained volunteers and that there were a huge number of meaningful conversations.’
‘It was generally a really fun afternoon – we had a wonderful magician and the brilliant Hot Bananas singers, who sung their socks off.’
Every visitor received a free kindness card to encourage acts of compassion, community and care, with the idea of passing the card on to others as a reward for their act of kindness.
Mr Clarke added that following the success of the festival, Kindness Connects will be attempting to make the event into a more regular occurrence.
‘I have had some really good feedback, so I am hoping that at the very least we can make the festival a bi-annual event.’
What is kindness?
- Kindness is the single most significant quality that distinguishes us as humans. It marks our shared humanity.
- This truth confirmed by the wisdom of the ages and through the words of humankinds deepest thinkers, religious leaders, philosophers, scientists explains how humankind continues to survive and thrive. Through thousands of years and countless generations.
- Of course there can be tension between individuals and social groups according to their different values and beliefs. But time and again the essential, social nature of womankind and mankind enables us to replace selfishness and even conflict with compassion and care through acts of kindness.
Why do we need kindness?
- Kindness is essential to human nature: it is part of our essence as humans as every religion affirms.
- Its also essential to our survival as scientists discoveries confirm.
- Alarming headlines come and go. What endures is our natural instinct to practise kindness in many different ways: a smile, a helping hand, a gift big or small delivered, received and repeated every single day. We have collected many such stories from every corner of the world.
- Kindness can break patterns in society by introducing this new element, creating unity and compassion.
Source: the Kindness Connects website
