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Hundreds sign up for kindness campaign

Good deeds: Laura Bell, left, and Vicki Abraham have set up a Facebook page called Bermuda Kindness Pandemic to encourage kindness in the community (Photograph by Jo Mar)

Two friends have joined forces to promote kindness across the island as the population faces up to the Covid-19 pandemic. Vicki Abraham and Laura Bell of design and communications agency Two Four One set up the Bermuda Kindness Pandemic page on Facebook last week.Now the page has more than 700 people signed up to give support and share good deeds they have experienced or done. One poster said: “Not sure if this counts, but my awesome neighbours just left spring rolls on my doorstep.“Hot off the press, and if you’ve ever tasted Filipino spring rolls, you know this is a very kind gesture indeed.”Ms Abraham and Ms Bell said they were inspired to create the page to boost morale in tough times and encourage people to do the right thing. The foreword on the Facebook page said: “We set up The Bermuda Kindness Pandemic because we’re hearing some great stories about how people are helping each other right now and seeing posts of people offering their help. “The power of kindness is multiplied when shared, and kindness spreads as quickly as a pandemic. Imagine a Bermuda that is overwhelmed with an outbreak of kindness. “It’s already happening and this group exists to share the stories, show the kindness that is already occurring. When we see others being kind, it’s almost as if it happened to us.” They admitted: “Kindness won’t make Covid-19 go away, but it will make our lives easier and more rewarding.“It will reduce or eliminate the panic and will help our tight-knit Bermuda community feel safe and will help us to remain positive when the going gets tough.”The pair added: “This is not an original idea. We are repurposing the idea from #TheKindnessPandemic to form a localised chapter so that Bermuda’s community can see and connect with people we recognise. “For this reason we encourage you to post with the hashtag #TheKindnessPandemic as well as the hashtag for this local group, #BermudaKindness.”Ms Bell and Ms Abraham said they hoped something good could come out of the worldwide crisis. Ms Abraham added: “Everybody is looking for something to help them feel better about things.“We’re living in uncertain times and it is good to know that people are doing good things for each other and that the human spirit is still alive.“It was an idea that we saw on Facebook from another country and it had a quarter of a million people following it.“When I was looking at it, it really lifted my spirits in those first few days and I thought this is definitely something we should do for Bermuda.”Ms Bell, a graphic designer, and Ms Abraham, a public relations expert, said their professional skills were adaptable to the crisis. Ms Abraham added: “It ties into how Laura and I do business anyway, looking at how we can give back and serve people, so it seemed like a good thing to do.”Ms Bell said: “Little things like the spring rolls on the doorstep made by a neighbour can brighten up someone’s day when you are alone. Those little things can inspire somebody else. Lots of people have been posting lots of great things.“One, for example, was putting rainbows in windows, something that was happening in Italy and the UK.“My daughter has a group chat with her friends and they have all been doing it because they saw it on our page.”She added: “Even when we take our walks in the evenings, people seem more friendly, waving and smiling. This is one time that we are all literally going through the same thing, and the one thing you can control is how you react to it.” Ms Abraham said: “The initiative that happened last week, when everybody came out on a Friday evening, made noise and banged drums as a way of thanking the emergency staff who put themselves at risk to protect the rest of us, was also posted on our page which was great. “We do have a rule of keeping the posts to something that is uplifting, an act of kindness.“We are also inviting people to post uplifting videos, where someone has been kind to you and you want to share that feeling by posting it.”• The Facebook page can be found by searching for BermudaKindnessPandemic