National Kindness Day
To mark the 20th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death, National Kindness Day is encouraging people to continue her legacy of compassion and kindness
Princess Diana is loved and remembered for many things, but her boundless kindness always shines out above all else. From helping the homeless to championing countless charities, holding the hand of AIDS victims to walking fearlessly across land-mineinfested areas, she used her enormous heart to make a difference to literally thousands of lives. Now, 20 years since her sad passing, her legacy of unconditional kindness lives on, thanks to the Diana Award, the charity set up in her name, which is encouraging people to take part in a National Kindness Day in her honour. The National Kindness Day, held on March 31, hopes
to inspire and record 20,000 tangible acts of kindness that, completed in Diana’s memory, will make the UK a kinder place far beyond that one single day. Tessy Ojo, CEO of the Diana Award, says the idea is to encourage everyone to adopt the spirit of generosity that made Diana the People’s Princess. “Many of us felt connected to Diana and felt her loss so keenly because, through her kindness, she touched our hearts. While she didn’t have to do anything outside of her comfort zone, she did by showing compassion towards and serving others. “National Kindness Day is about saying to people, if you loved her for her kindness why don’t you also adopt that trait you most admired in her?” Now in its third year (the first two years were solely aimed at schoolchildren) National Kindness Day encourages people to pledge to complete simple acts that have long-lasting implications, from getting to know your neighbour to giving your time to a local charity. They’d also like parents and grandparents to discuss kindness with little ones, encouraging them to be kind to the child at school who is often left out or considered different. The Diana Award will then ask people to get in touch afterwards to let them know the difference that one act of kindness has made. “Kindness is such an old-fashioned word that it’s easy to forget about it, but we think if the princess were here now what she’d be talking about is the need to be that little bit kinder, especially given that hate crime is currently on the rise,” says Tessy. In fact, Diana’s values of compassion and service are at the heart of every part of the Diana Award which, aside from National Kindness Day, has seen more than 25,000 young people trained as anti-bullying ambassadors and 46,000 young people awarded for going above and beyond for their community. “Since we began, we’ve had incredible support from Prince Harry and Prince William who’ve been very involved. For our 15th anniversary they sent us a letter saying their mother would be so proud of the Diana Award and all the young people who continue her legacy, even if they might only know her as an historic figure. We now want to help continue that legacy even further and reach even more people.” To pledge an act of kindness for National Kindness Day, visit www.diana-award.org.uk/ kindnessday To make a donation to the Diana Award, call 0207 628 7499 or visit www.diana-award.org.uk
“Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you”
| Princess Diana |