October 21, 2020 – Today Global Dignity Canada is delighted to announce the launch of the 7 Days of Kindness social media campaign.This campaign, launched in honor of Global Dignity Day today, builds on the organization’s existing Unite Kindness initiative, designed for youth striving for a kinder world amidst the uncertainties of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to data from Imaginable Futures and UNICEF last month, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted more than 91 per cent of students worldwide – around 1.5 billion children and young people at its peak in 2020.
Unite Kindness aggregates and showcases kindness campaigns from around the world all in one place. The goal is to make it easy for children and youth to join the extraordinary global kindness movement underway — alive in everyday acts of kindness, communities, workplaces, public spaces, on TV, the internet — and everywhere in between.
Since the launch of the Unite Kindness campaign, over 500,000 acts of kindness have been aggregated across 20 kindness campaigns, with a goal of reaching one million acts of kindness by the end of the year. It is being led internationally by Global Dignity’s Canadian Chair and International Board Member, Giovanna Mingarelli.
“I’m delighted to see the hundreds of thousands of acts of kindness people around the world are sharing everyday,” said Ms. Mingarelli . “ Kindness is an expression of love. This campaign shows us how easy it is to love oneself, others and the world in really simple ways, from painting a rock to voting on election day.”
To participate in Global Dignity Canada’s 7 Days of Kindness campaign, young people are invited to submit a photo or video of an act of kindness, a creative work, or ways they take care of their own physical or emotional wellbeing on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #UniteKindness. These actions could include helping a sibling with homework, playing a sport, painting a rock for the “Kindness Rocks” initiative, or donating food to a local soup kitchen.
The campaign will feature influencers and creative change makers, including: international singer, song writer, Morris Hayes; internationally acclaimed entertainment innovators and LembasWorks Co-Founders Tara Baswani and Remi Lemieux; LembasWorks youth artist Zoe Monast; Athletica Rewards Founder, Angella Goran; Indigenous Cultural Ambassador, Amy Lacroix; and Perttu Polonen, futurist, musician and author, to name a few.
“It’s important to put love and kindness into action: that’s what building inclusive communities is all about!” said Olivia Bechthold, the Executive Director of Global Dignity in Canada.
The 7 Days of Kindness campaign will culminate on October 28th during Global Dignity Canada’s national Global Dignity Day celebrations – a live streamed pan-Canadian kitchen party.
Established in 2005, by HRH Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, Operation HOPE Founder, Chairman and CEO John Hope Bryant and Professor Pekka Himanen, Global Dignity is linked to the 2020 process of the World Economic Forum, in which leaders from politics, business, academia, and civil society join efforts to improve the state of the world.
Global Dignity is an independent, non-profit, non-political organization with the aim to instill a positive, inclusive and interconnected sense of value in young people that will guide them as they grow, as well as promote the idea that every human being has the universal right to lead a dignified life. The organization supports 3 million youth in 80 countries.
More information and details of the national celebration live stream can be found at www.globaldignity.ca.