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Kind things to do in your neighborhood
Within walking distance. Most of these are for people you half-know: the faces you recognize on the same street every week and have never actually spoken to.
Showing 91–120 of 162 ideas
Ask an older person what they used to do
Retired people are asked about their health and their grandchildren. Almost nobody asks what they were good at.
Half an hourFreeA neighbor
Ask what they would make if you let them
People who make things all day rarely get asked their opinion by the people they make them for.
5 minutesUnder $10A stranger
Say something specific about their garden
Someone is doing that for nobody's benefit but the street's, and almost certainly has never been told it was noticed.
5 minutesFreeA neighbor
Stay with someone who has fallen
Most people who fall in public are surrounded by people who assume someone else is handling it.
Half an hourFreeA stranger
Talk to the person on the door
Security staff stand in one place for twelve hours while thousands of people walk past without making eye contact.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Wave through the person with three things
You have a full trolley and eleven minutes of unpacking ahead. They have a sandwich and a train to catch.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Cover the few pounds someone is short at the till
Being short at a checkout with a queue behind you is a small public humiliation, and it is trivially preventable.
5 minutesUnder $10A stranger
Knock, rather than posting a leaflet
Leaflets reach people who are already connected. The person most worth inviting needs someone at the door.
Half an hourFreeA neighbor
Go to the small thing nobody else will
The exhibition, the first gig, the talk to nine people. Attendance at the small things is what people remember.
An afternoonUnder $10A friend
Turn up for the move
Helping someone move is the least fun and most remembered favor in the entire catalogue of friendship.
An afternoonFreeA friend
Face them instead of raising your voice
Shouting distorts speech and singles someone out. Facing them and slowing down works far better.
5 minutesFreeA neighbor
Say something kind to a parent having a bad time
A toddler melting down in public means a parent convinced that everyone is judging them. Usually everyone is sympathetic and silent.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Start something that meets weekly
Loneliness is rarely solved by an event. It is solved by something recurring that requires no arrangement.
OngoingFreeA neighbor
Offer to take the photo for the group
Someone is always missing from the picture, and it is usually the person who organized the trip.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Offer to water while they are away
Offering before a holiday is worth far more than offering after. It also quietly tells a burglar the house is occupied.
5 minutesFreeA neighbor
Invite the whole household, not just the one you know
Partners and teenagers of a newcomer are often more isolated than the person who has the job or the class.
5 minutesFreeA neighbor
Pay the small place in cash
Card fees take two to three per cent from a business whose margin may be five. Cash is a quiet discount you can choose to give.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Teach six people the thing you can do
Most useful skills are held by people who do not think of themselves as qualified to teach them.
An afternoonUnder $10A stranger
Introduce two neighbors who should know each other
You often know two people on the same street who would be useful or good company to each other, and who have never spoken.
5 minutesFreeA neighbor
Give a local group one evening
Small charities and clubs cannot afford the professional help they need, and the gap is usually one evening wide.
An afternoonFreeA stranger
Take a child to meet an older neighbor
Both groups are more isolated than they were a generation ago, and the barrier is that neither can initiate.
Half an hourFreeA neighbor
Keep a child's routine running
When adults are consumed by an emergency, children lose the ordinary things that tell them the world still works.
OngoingFreeA friend
Slow down without announcing it
Matching someone's pace is easy. Doing it without commenting on it is what preserves their dignity.
5 minutesFreeA neighbor
Hold the door a few seconds longer
The standard distance for holding a door is about two seconds. Extending it to six costs nothing and is noticed every time.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Sit down properly when you visit
A visitor who stays standing signals they are about to leave, and the whole visit is spent anticipating it.
Half an hourFreeA neighbor
Tell a parent something good about their child
Parents hear from school when there is a problem. Positive observations from another adult are rare and enormously reassuring.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Offer to carry the heavy thing
Someone is struggling with a suitcase, a box or shopping. Most people look away rather than risk offering.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Ask about the hobby you find boring
Everyone has an enthusiasm their friends politely do not ask about. Asking properly once is a gift.
Half an hourFreeA friend
Bring the new person into the group conversation
A circle of people talking is physically closed. Turning your body is the whole mechanism for opening it.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Take the parcel in, and say so straight away
Taking a delivery in is common. Telling them immediately is what stops it being a small anxiety in someone's evening.
5 minutesFreeA neighbor