Waterloo – If you’re like the majority of us in this community, you’re always on the go. A typical day has you working eight to 10 hours, running yourself or your kids to hockey, piano, dance lessons or whatever else you’ve gotten yourself involved in, plus you’ve got to find the time to pick up the groceries and the dry cleaning you’ve been putting off for the last two weeks. You’re moving so fast that you don’t have much time to acknowledge when someone lets you merge in front of them on the expressway much less what’s going on in the community around you.

So, wouldn’t it be nice to slow down – at least for one day – and say “hey, thanks!”?

Random Act of Kindness Day is a day to celebrate those little niceties and encourage others to pay those “acts of kindness” forward.

“We live in a truly amazing community where so much kindness happens every day. Let’s take a moment to not only recognize when someone does something nice for us, but to also do something nice in return,” says Rosemary Smith, CEO of The Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation.

November 13th will be the second Random Act of Kindness Day in K-W and area. Before that date, cards will be circulated throughout the community. The cards will encourage the cardholder to perform a simple act of kindness for someone – a neighbour, a friend, a co-worker, or someone they don’t even know – and hand the card over to that person – encouraging him/her to do the same.

For last year’s inaugural Random Act of Kindness Day several businesses, organizations, schools, individuals, and members of the media took up the call to do something nice for their fellow citizen. “It was exciting to see so many people – young and old – making an effort to be friendlier and nicer to others on that one single day,” says Debb Ritchie, Chair of the of the Friends of the Foundation Committee – a group of volunteers who have been spearheading this initiative along with The Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation.

There are many different types of action that people can use as their kind act – buy someone a coffee, congratulate someone on a job well done, act as a sounding board for another, even something as simple as holding open a door for someone with their hands full – each act provides us with an opportunity to connect with a member of our community.

Random Act of Kindness cards will be available through all Bank of Montreal (BMO) branches in K-W and Elmira and at the Waterloo Region Record as of September 15th.

“Random acts of kindness are a wonderful way to touch the life of another person and absolutely make our world a better place,” adds Smith. “Random Act of Kindness Day will help bring a human face to our community.”