Saturday is World Kindness Day, and groups around Metro Vancouver marked the occasion by stepping up to do good for their neighbours.
In Richmond, volunteers gathered at Quilchena Elementary to run their first annual clothing drive, collecting men’s clothing for their local homeless shelter.
Organizer Angela Dinnell said the need was “massive.”
“There’s 60 beds and they let us know they’re almost at full capacity, and they have no clothes,” she said.
“Some of the men are wearing women’s clothes, not because they want to, but because they need to just to keep themselves warm and in something clean. And then jackets, shoes, socks, everything for winter.”
And it appeared kindness was in no short supply on Saturday. The event had to shut down two hours early after an “overwhelming response” in which organizers filled their entire U-Haul truck plus five other vehicles.
In Delta, the city launched new “kindness meters,” decommissioned parking meters that have been painted with designs from local high school students.
The meters aren’t actually charging for parking, but rather are placed to collect spare coins, the proceeds of which will go to local community service groups.
“I always said we’d never have parking meters but we made an exception,” Delta Mayor George Harvie quipped.
The five unique meters were created in a partnership between the Delta School District, Delta’s Community Resilience and Economic Team and the Delta Community Foundation.
Harvie said they will be moved around the city every six months so more people can get a look at the creations.
The mayor said the meters are just one way locals can participate in World Kindness Day.
“Show an act of kindness to the many people that are helping you,” he said.
“People who are serving us in a restaurant, grocery clerks — just tell them how much you appreciate their job. They’ve been through a lot during this pandemic.”
World Kindness Day, which is marked every Nov. 13, began in 1998 as an initiative to encourage kindness throughout the world by promoting kind deeds in the community.