This article is written by Gail Peck, project manager in HM Revenues and Customs (HMRC)

I have been asked before, who inspires me?

And my answer has always been, “kind people”.

Kind people inspire me, as it takes courage to be kind.

Since the lockdown began, I have found myself drawn to stories of random acts of kindness.

The outbreak has taken a lot of us by surprise. Life as we know it has changed dramatically. The uncertainty is worrying. But one thing that we have seen all over the world is that kindness is prevailing in uncertain times.

Captain Sir Tom Moore, the war veteran raised more than £32m for NHS charities by walking 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday in April 2020.

Clap for NHS, where Britain comes together to clap for carers on Covid-19 frontline every Thursday evening.

Italians singing on their balconies spread across Italy during lockdown to boost morale. A trend that soon crossed national borders and as it spread from Italy across Europe to Spain and even to Sweden.

Jay Flynn, a former pub landlord from Darwen, set up ‘The Virtual Pub Quiz’ as a way to lift the spirits of residents near his local pub expecting 30 or 40 participants. However, after a Facebook post went viral, the quiz attracted hundreds of thousands of people and earned the Guinness World Record for most viewers of a quiz YouTube live stream. Flynn has now raised over £160,000 for NHS Charities Together and over £150,000 for Alzheimer’s Research UK. My husband and I join hundreds of quizzers on Thursdays and Saturdays at 20:15 as it’s fun and good entertainment.

And where I work in the UK’s HMRC, Ann Chandler, a colleague of mine joined a Facebook Group called "For the Love of Scrubs". The group was set up by a nurse to raise funds and coordinate people across the sewing community to make scrubs and other items for NHS workers. Ann started making drawstring laundry bags and scrub hats.

Let’s find more ways, however small, to spread kindness

Health workers use laundry bags to bring their dirty uniforms or scrubs home and then the whole thing, bag and contents, is put straight in the washing machine on a hot wash. Using these bags helps minimise the risk of contamination and they have been requested by many healthcare workers. Of the 50 scrub bags she made so far - 20 were sent to the trauma ward at Royal United Hospital in Bath, for which she received a lovely letter of thanks and 30, along with 15 scrub hats have gone to district nurses working in the community.

Connect with kindness

I myself have been fortunate to be on the receiving end of kindness.

I am currently 22 weeks pregnant and my husband, bless him, has been overly patient with my overflowing hormones. I had been emotional about almost anything.

A friend who lives next door keeps feeding me with yummy Thai food and I return the favour with my Filipino food. It just makes me smile every time she rings the doorbell and leaves the food on my door with a smiley note.

Some friends have offered to get things for me in the shop.

Family, friends and colleagues sent me messages to check up on me which is very thoughtful.

On Mental Health Awareness Week, I attended a webinar by The Charity for Civil Servant on The Power of Kindness. I have learnt from the webinar that kindness:

  • Releases feel-good hormones
  • Eases anxiety
  • Is good for our heart
  • Can reduce stress
  • Can help us live longer
  • Is contagious

We were asked to share what act of kindness we have received/gave lately and at the end of the session, the hosts shared it with everyone. It is wonderful to hear what people do, have done or received for/from others. We are supposed to be social distancing, but these people are touching my heart.

Let’s find more ways, however small, to spread kindness.

If you’d like to share your story, I think I speak for many when I say we would love to hear from you. We may be able to collate enough stories to make an online book of random acts of kindness in a time of a pandemic and it’ll remind us what a wonderful world we are living in. — Gail Peck

If you would like to share your story about kindness during the lockdown, please send us a pitch on Apolitical’s contributor page and mark it “random acts of kindness”.

(Picture credit: Unsplash)