Since our founding in 1895, Royal Neighbors members have been showing up for others in moments of both joy and hardship. Through simple acts of kindness, our members have shaped communities and changed lives. From the suffragettes who fought for equal voting rights to those who have lent a helping hand in times of need, our members have always turned compassion into action. And together, we continue to make a difference.
Join us in celebrating our 130th anniversary by spreading kindness! We’re inviting everyone to do at least one purposeful, small act of kindness each month. Pick up that piece of litter, wave at your neighbor, return a shopping cart, then let us know through RoyalConnect, our monthly program designed to connect the community to our mission of empowering women and serving communities through small acts of kindness.
Sometimes all it takes is a little extra effort to do small acts with big impact.
Random Acts of Kindness Include:
- Ask a cashier how they are doing
- Attend a friend’s graduation
- Bake cookies for your neighbors
- Be a good sport during games and activities
- Bring a basket of fresh fruit to a break room at work
- Bring a meal to a sick friend
- Bring reusable bags and share with someone who forgot theirs
- Bring treats to your local elementary school
- Buy a movie ticket for the person behind you
- Buy and drop off $5 coffee gift cards to hospital patients’ families/caregivers
- Buy school supplies for a teacher
- Carry in groceries for a neighbor
- Chalk sidewalks with positive quotes
- Cheer for friend’s child at their sporting event
- Deliver treats to local healthcare workers
- Donate blood
- Donate books to a Little Free Library
- Donate bus tokens to your local hospital
- Donate canned goods to a food pantry
- Donate costumes to a children’s museum or library’s kid’s dress-up area
- Donate diapers and wipes to a women’s shelter
- Donate free/sample toiletries and make-up, contribute those to homeless shelters
- Donate fresh veggies from your garden to a local food pantry
- Donate old eyeglasses to an organization that repurposes them
- Donate pet food to animal shelter
- Donate towels and old bedding to an animal shelter
- Donate toys and games to a local women and children’s shelter
- Drop off a homemade meal or snacks for a fire station
- Find a favorite photo you have with a friend and mail it to them with a kind note
- Forgive someone
- Foster and/or adopt a pet from your local animal shelter
- Give a box of your favorite donuts to your local public works team
- Give a pen to a stranger
- Give coupons to a food pantry so volunteers can shop for needed items
- Give someone a high-five
- Give up your seat for someone else on the bus or train
- Help a classmate with a project or task during group work
- Help a neighbor with yard work
- Help a tourist with directions
- Help clean up after a meal
- Help in a community garden
- Help plant trees for your local park district
- Help push a wheelchair for a loved one
- Help serve food at a soup kitchen
- Help set the table
- Help set up and/or clean up at an event
- Help someone cross the street
- Help someone fill out paperwork (application for a job or passport, etc.)
- Help someone pick up something they dropped
- Help someone pump gas
- Help someone reach an item on a high shelf
- Help someone struggling with technology
- Help with household chores
- Hold the elevator for someone
- Hug a friend or family member
- Introduce a colleague to a contact in your professional network
- Leave a basket of water for mail carriers
- Leave a kind note in a library book
- Leave a thank-you note for a janitor or maintenance worker
- Leave an extra blanket in your car to give to someone in need
- Leave coupons near relevant items in a store
- Lend someone a movie that you love
- Lend your phone charger to a stranger at the airport
- Let someone go ahead of you in line
- Let someone merge in traffic
- Make and donate winter hats, scarves, and blankets to a local homeless shelter
- Make and send cards to our overseas troops
- Mow a neighbor’s lawn
- Offer kind words to a stressed parent in a store or waiting room
- Offer to babysit for a friend
- Offer to be a mentor for others in your field of work or to a child
- Offer to help someone move furniture
- Offer to help wrap presents during the holidays
- Offer to organize a community clean-up day
- Offer to proofread someone’s resume
- Offer to run an errand for someone in an at-risk group
- Offer to swap seats so a family can sit together
- Offer to tutor a student for free
- Open the door for a stranger
- Paint kindness rocks and leave in your community for others to find
- Participate in a 5k walk or run for a nonprofit cause
- Participate in an Angel Tree during the holidays
- Pause for an animal crossing the road
- Pay for a stranger’s library fees
- Pay for a stranger’s toll
- Pay for a taxi or other transportation for someone in need
- Pay for someone’s gas
- Pay for someone’s parking meter
- Pick up litter at a park or beach
- Play a board game with a child
- Print, color, and laminate coloring pages for a local nursing home
- Purchase coffee for the person in line behind you
- Put a nice note in someone’s lunch or on a bathroom mirror for someone to find
- Put quarters in machines at the laundromat
- Read a story to a local classroom
- Refill the coffee pot at home or work
- Say “hello” or “have a good day” to people you encounter during the day
- Say “please” and “thank you” to show good manners
- Scrape ice/snow off a co-worker’s car
- Send a care package to a college student (friend, relative, neighbor, etc.)
- Send dessert to another table at a restaurant
- Send flowers to hospital patients
- Send postcards to friends and family when you are out of town
- Share a favorite recipe
- Share your snack with someone who doesn’t have one
- Share your umbrella with someone on a rainy day
- Shop small and local
- Shovel snow from a driveway/sidewalk for a neighbor
- Sign up for a bone marrow registry
- Smile at someone
- Support a child’s lemonade stand
- Surprise a co-worker with a favorite snack
- Surprise someone with their favorite coffee
- Take a new colleague to lunch
- Take a photo for a couple/family
- Take coloring books and crayons to a children’s hospital
- Take your neighbor’s garbage and recycling bins back to their home for them
- Teach someone a new skill or game you know
- Tell someone how much they mean to you
- Tell someone they did a good job
- Tell your boss what you appreciate about them
- Thank a service worker
- Throw a surprise birthday party for a loved one
- Tip your server extra
- Volunteer or raise awareness for a charity/nonprofit
- Volunteer to make costumes for a school play
- Walk a dog at the animal shelter
- Water a friend’s plants
- Wave at children on a school bus
- Write a thank-you note to a teacher or coach
For more ideas, check out our Giving Back on a Budget article.
