Kindness Award Launched in Inverclyde
You now can nominate yourself or someone you know for a Kindness Award.
Every day in our communities, acts of kindness and compassion are carried out by individuals and the Kindness Award is to show you or someone you know that kind deeds, words and attitudes are appreciated and deserve to be recognised.
Read more and download the nomination form here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bJXR88JWVcVsD8WT7eVeVrqNvGVvyhQd?usp=sharing
The awards were launched this week at the Inverclyde Community Hub with both CVS Inverclyde and the Inverclyde Carers Centre receiving bronze awards for their recent work gaining the Bereavement Charter Mark1.
Alison Bunce, programme lead for Inverclyde Cares, said: “a Kindness Award was always something we wanted to happen because developing a compassionate community is all about how we harness kindness and every single person has got something to offer but sometimes we just don’t see that or recognise that.
“The Kindness Award will capture people’s stories of being kind. If we can promote kindness as a way of being – through actions and words and attitudes – then we can transform Inverclyde into an amazing place.
“Kenny and Charlene are leaders of their organisations who agreed to look at bereavement compassionately for their staff members and, through that process, kindness was absolutely interwoven at every step of the way. So in the end there was a charter developed for CVSI and the Carers Centre around bereavement and how kindly that organisation supports staff.
“We realised that it ties in so well with the Kindness Award because they have achieved a real kindness going through the process. It was an absolute joy to work with their teams and make this happen.”
“Today we’re asking for stories from the community. We’ll collate these and every day we’ll share stories. Every single person who shares their kindness story will get a badge and a certificate to say that they’ve done a great thing.
“There will be silver and gold awards for organisations, and one award for individuals.”
Willie Wilson, manager of Branchton Community Centre, said: “We’ve been on a long journey to get to where we are, but today is the start of the journey not the end of it.
“We’re delighted that we’ve got something for organisations, and we’re even more delighted that we’ve got something for something individuals: it’s for the ordinary individual that does something that deserves recognition. We’re looking forward to the future and getting all these good news stories in and seeing where it takes us – we think it will take us a long way.”
Kenny McKenna, manager of Inverclyde Carers Centre, said: “Thank you to Alison for how much she’s done and thank you for Willie for all the things he’s done in the background as well, thank you both.
“What I thought was really good about the process of gaining the Bereavement Charter and policy, and some of the issues behind it, was I realised how blind I had been to what was glaringly obvious: we should have better bereavement policies. It’s kindness, but it also something that should be a right. So I’m really pleased that you helped us see something that we should’ve seen before.
“Policies, and the workplace in general, can sometimes dehumanise people, almost by accident. So it’s good to step back and look at policies.
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Charlene Elliott, CEO of CVS Inverclyde, said: “thank you, Alison. You and Willie have done so much hard work in the background and I’m delighted that you lead the team through the process to achieve both the Bereavement Charter Mark and the Kindness Award. I know it has been really therapeutic for the team, it has been a really good process for bringing people together – which is what Inverclyde Cares is all about.
“CVS Inverclyde is really keen to always be an organisation which pilots new approaches so it has been a privilege and a pleasure for us to be one of the first organisations to go through this process. Thank you to everyone involved.”
Councillor Colin Jackson, Inverclyde Council's health and social care convener, said: “I’m proud to support the launch of the Inverclyde Kindness Awards which will recognise individuals and organisations for acts of kindness in our community no matter how big or small.
“We know Inverclyde is a caring and compassionate place to live, work and visit and we see many examples on a daily basis but not everyone gets the recognition they deserve.
“These awards are a celebration of the wonderful, everyday acts of kindness that makes Inverclyde such a special place and well done to Alison and Willie for driving this on with support from the various partners.”
The Kindness Award and the bereavement project are part of the Inverclyde Cares initiative: a strategic network of organisations from the third, public and private sectors underpinned by values of kindness, compassion and equality, seeking to create a compassionate Inverclyde where we look after each other.