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Kind things you can do on your own
No coordinating, no asking anyone, no waiting for a group. You can do every one of these today without telling a single person you are doing it.
Showing 61–90 of 274 ideas
Offer to put it in writing
Spoken instructions vanish. For anyone with hearing loss, dyslexia or brain fog they may not have landed at all.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Warn someone what the phrase actually means
'We should do this again sometime' means different things in different places, and getting it wrong is painful.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Ask someone to teach you their food
Being asked to share something from home reverses the usual direction, where the newcomer receives and thanks.
An afternoonUnder $10A neighbor
Not rated yet
Say what you are pointing at
'It's over there' is useless to someone who cannot see you gesturing. Words cost nothing extra.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Buy the work rather than praising it
Artists, writers and makers get a great deal of encouragement and very little income. One is a great deal more useful.
5 minutesMore than $10A friend
Not rated yet
Ask before you help, then do what they say
Grabbing a wheelchair or an arm without asking is both dangerous and startlingly common.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Move your bin off the pavement
Bins, bikes and parked cars narrow pavements to the point where a wheelchair has to go into the road.
5 minutesFreeA neighbor
Not rated yet
Say keep the change before they count it
A small overpayment is worth more as a decision you announce than as coins you leave behind.
5 minutesUnder $10A stranger
Not rated yet
Learn five signs and use them
Hello, thank you, sorry, please, your name. Five signs is enough to change an encounter completely.
Half an hourFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Quietly pay for a child's kit
The boots, the instrument, the trip. Children drop out of things because of cost, and nobody is told why.
5 minutesMore than $10A neighbor
Not rated yet
Move your trolley out of the aisle
A blocked aisle is an inconvenience to most people and an impassable wall to a wheelchair or a scooter.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Tell someone about money they are entitled to
Billions in benefits, reliefs and refunds go unclaimed every year, mostly by people who do not know they qualify.
Half an hourFreeA friend
Not rated yet
Tell a teacher what they did for your child
Teachers hear from parents almost exclusively about problems. Specific praise is rare enough to be kept for years.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Return it better than you got it
The borrowed car with a full tank, the returned dish with something in it. The margin is what people remember.
Half an hourUnder $10A neighbor
Not rated yet
Help with the deposit, not the rent
A one-off lump unlocks a situation. Ongoing help postpones one, and is far harder to stop.
5 minutesMore than $10A friend
Not rated yet
Turn the one-off donation into a standing order
Charities can plan against regular income and cannot plan against appeals. Five pounds monthly beats sixty at Christmas.
5 minutesMore than $10An organization
Not rated yet
Hand over your good tradesperson
The reliable plumber, the honest garage, the dentist taking patients. Newcomers pay a premium for not knowing.
5 minutesFreeA neighbor
Not rated yet
Leave credit on the machine behind you
A parking meter, a laundry card, a photo booth. The next person gets a small unearned piece of luck.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Put it back exactly where it was
In the home of a blind or partially sighted person, a tidied object is a lost object.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Not rated yet
Be the reference someone has no way of getting
Renting, banking and jobs all require a history that anyone newly arrived by definition does not have.
Half an hourFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Give one instruction at a time
Stacked instructions fail for anyone tired, anxious, learning the language or processing differently.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Believe someone about their own symptoms
People with invisible illness spend years being doubted, most often by people who mean well.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Not rated yet
Tell someone how you got in
Careers look like merit from outside and like luck and contacts from inside. Saying so out loud helps someone enormously.
Half an hourFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Say plainly that you are glad they came
Anyone new spends months privately unsure whether they are wanted or merely tolerated. One sentence settles it.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Pay a bit more at the place that employs people
The difference between the independent and the chain is usually small per item and decisive per year.
Half an hourUnder $10A stranger
Not rated yet
Ask what the hardest part actually is
We assume we know which part of someone's situation is worst, and we are usually wrong.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Not rated yet
Tell a carer what you noticed
Carers watch someone decline daily and lose sight of who they were. An outsider's observation gives that back.
5 minutesFreeA caregiver
Not rated yet
Add alt text to your images
An image without a description is a blank space to anyone using a screen reader. Writing one takes twenty seconds.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Notice the deadline someone is drowning in
People rarely ask for help at work because asking reads as not coping. Offering removes the admission.
An afternoonFreeA friend
Not rated yet
Return the thing you have had for two years
Everybody is holding something borrowed and mildly embarrassing. Giving it back is easier than the story you have built around it.
5 minutesFreeA neighbor
Not rated yet