A Miramichi, N.B., woman is asking people to perform acts of kindness to help lift the spirits of people in their communities who may be struggling amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Can you go one day without saying anything negative? Sometimes that is all it takes,” said Rachel Bernard, who led an uplifting visit at a senior care home over the weekend.
Bernard said following COVID-19 protocol, she organized a group of dog owners to parade their pooches outside of the Losier Hall long-term care home in Miramichi to lift the spirits of both residents and staff isolated inside.
“I thought that this was an important thing to do”, she said.
She said she has been inspired by the Riverview teen, Becca Schofield, who the kindness movement, #beccatoldmeto.
“Every time that I see somebody doing something nice or I do something nice, I always have that #beccatoldmeto,” in her mind, she said.
Becca’s kindness movement using the #beccatoldmeto hashtag spread across the globe, and although it has been three years since the inspiring young woman passed away, her mother Anne Schofield said her daughter’s legacy lives on.
“I still, to this day, get daily messages of how she has impacted people’s lives and how she has changed people’s views on how they live their lives,” said Schofield.
Bernard, who is an administrator for the site, said she is encouraging people to find a safe way to pay forward some positivity and post it to Becca’s Facebook page. She said that people could use a lift amid the pandemic.
“If you post it, the ones that can’t get out and can’t see may be able to enjoy that peace,” he said.
She said the kind act could be simply smiling at a stranger from behind a mask.
She and a group of her colleagues recently raised funds to treat public health workers in Micamichi on their coffee breaks.
Miramichi Public Health Director, Greg Sargent, said it went a long way to lifting the spirits of his staff.
“That is just what we need to get through this challenging time and I know from that small act of kindness that landed in our office that you could just see the lift in people,” he said.
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