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'One Deed, One Lifetime' project aims to create cycle of kindness |
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SINGAPORE : A helping hand or a listening ear -- these small acts of kindness can make a big difference if the same spirit of kindness is passed on. That is the aim of the nationwide One Deed, One Lifetime project by Channel NewsAsia and the Cold Storage Group. In fact, one community has already been paying the kindness forward for two years now. Students from Pei Chun Public have been poring over a book called "Always in Season - A Harvest of Kindness Stories" since January. "It's very nice. It tells us about people doing kindness to others, helping people in many ways," said one student. The book is passed on to other students after it is read. In three months, more than 1,400 from nine schools have read it. The bookchain is just one of the many projects under the Central Singapore CDC's Pay It Forward programme. The CDC hopes the book will inspire its young residents to pass on acts of kindness, be it a big or small gesture. And it seems to be having an effect. "I saw a woman crossing the road very slowly and there was a car coming towards her so I went forward to help her," said a Pei Chun student. The CDC began its Pay It Forward programme in 2002. "The idea first came about from one of our residents who had watched the movie 'Pay It Forward'. She was so inspired that she came to the CDC to ask, could we do something to support this within the district, to have a infectious campaign of acts of kindness. We felt it was a wonderful idea," said Tan Gee Keow, general manager of Central Singapore CDC. And so began a series of projects, from getting residents to write in about the good deeds done to them, to devising a card to track the chain of goodness. In total, more than 2,000 residents have participated in the projects. "We've had so many stories telling us acts of kindness, this is really a small measure of what goes on in our district," said Ms Tan. Excited over the nationwide One Deed, One Lifetime project, the Central CDC hopes this will encourage even more Singaporeans to pay good deeds forward in order to create a cycle of kindness. If you want to be part of it, log on to the Channelnewsasia.com website. - CNA
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