Our projects

Our aim is that every older person feels warm in their home and connected to their community.
We do this by sourcing and distributing practical gifts that reduce the negative impact that feeling lonely and isolated can have on older people’s physical and mental wellbeing. We have a special interest in helping older people who are cold in their homes. We also seek opportunities to connect communities with kindness.

Our current Small Acts of Kindness projects are:

Warm in Winter Gift bags

Many older people struggle to keep warm when the weather turns cold. Our future aim, each winter, is to source and distribute up to 10,000 Warm in Winter gift bags that will help older people keep warm in their homes.

Celebrate Christmas gift bags

Many older people have no one to celebrate Christmas with. Each winter we will give a bag full of hand wrapped presents to 500 older people who are alone at Christmas.

Violet’s Gift
Ahead of Christmas 2020, we were delighted to announce a new partnership with Violet's Gift. This Christmas charitable project was set up in 2015 to provide gift donations to people in care homes with no loved ones. With the help of all our amazing volunteers, wrapping and delivering, we made more than 1000 gifts available to 31 Hertfordshire care homes.

Christmas Kindness

Small Acts of Kindness partnered with Hertfordshire County Council Adult Services and HertsHelp, ahead of Christmas 2020, to pack 3,000 gift boxes for older people who were alone and may not otherwise have received anything at that time of year. This exciting project demonstrated the effectiveness of a partnership which can draw on our experience in sourcing, packing and wrapping gifts and essential items.

Bags of Kindness

Early in 2021 we undertook another project in partnership with and funded by Hertfordshire County Council Adult Care Services and HertsHelp. We packed 3,000 ‘Bags of Kindness’ which were given out to clinically extremely vulnerable people across the county, many of whom had recently received their vaccine. The packing was achieved in less than a week.

Purple Pages Information Packs

Our Purple Pages Information Packs contain a wealth of carefully sourced literature about services and activities for older people. very often things that recipients hadn’t even previously known or thought about. The packs are delivered with every gift bag that we distribute.

How you can help

Our work has had a significant impact on the lives of some of Hertfordshire’s most vulnerable older people.

Our ultimate aim is to be able to source and distribute a Warm in Winter gift bag to every old person who needs one. With your help, we can make this happen.

￡10 helps purchase gifts for an older person who would otherwise be alone at Christmas

￡25 covers the cost of a gift bag that will help keep an older person warm this winter

￡50 provides 10 older people with a blanket to wrap up warm in

￡100 provides 20 older people with thermal gloves and socks and a warm hat

“I am overwhelmed at the super gift from you wonderful people. I am a widow and I have always managed but the last few years I have sat freezing or gone to bed early because I can't afford to heat my home. You are angels.”

Please select a donation amount (required)

£10

Helps purchase gifts for an older person who would otherwise be alone at Christmas

£25

Covers the cost of a gift bag that will help keep an older person warm this winter

£50

Provides 10 older people with a blanket to wrap up warm in

£100

Provides 20 older people with extra warm clothing

Other

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Warm in Winter gift bags

In total, since the Small Acts of Kindness first began in 2014, we have reached over 36,500 older people in Hertfordshire, many of whom are cold, lonely and isolated.

Most have struggled to keep warm in their homes during the winter months. Some were faced with the almost unimaginable and impossible choice between heating their homes and buying food.

Being cold can lead to health risks such as raised blood pressure which can result in and increased risk of strokes, heart attacks and falls.

Our Warm in Winter gift bags contain essential practical keep warm items for older people including; a fleece blanket, thermal hat, gloves, socks and leg warmers, a mug and hot drinks.

They are distributed free of charge to older people aged over 55 across Hertfordshire.

These gift bags are an intervention that can help reduce the risks that older people face when they are cold.

For some older people they could be a life saver.

Additionally, all gift bags contain our comprehensive Purple Pages Information Pack of literature that signposts them to relevant activities and services for older people, helping to break the cycle that loneliness and isolation can bring.

Recipients of Warm in Winter gift bags:

Are warmer in their homes with the associated reduced risk of cold-related illness or seasonal death.
Feel less lonely and isolated.
Have increased feelings of wellbeing.

Here are some of the comments received from grateful recipients:

"Made me feel very happy and not so alone. That there are people who are so caring. Such a lovely gesture."

"I was delighted with my bag, it made me feel really special and most importantly loved."

“Happy and grateful for the lovely surprise and all the lovely treats. It really made me feel special and really appreciated your kindness.”

“Very humble at such generosity and kindness. Such lovely practical gifts- it felt like Christmas had come early.”

“In this Covid lockdown there have been many acts of kindness and I now feel included amongst them.”

“Better in mind and spirit, a cheery reminder of the goodness of people.”

“Such a pleasant surprise. Just like Xmas of my childhood. I enjoyed it immensely.”

“Everything, it contained so much variety, it will provide many hours of relaxation and comfort to take my mind off of the stressful situation at present.”

“Hat, gloves, and all the information, I hadn't realised how much support there is.”

Celebrate Christmas gift bags

Research by Age UK revealed that over 400,000 older people each year dread the prospect of a lonely Christmas.

23% of over 65s (that is 2.5 million people in the UK) say that the festive season is not a happy one for them.

Our Celebrate Christmas gift bags contain beautifully hand wrapped gifts such as a scarf, puzzle book, pen, biscuits, chocolates and mince pies as well as a signed Christmas card from our team and are free of charge to the recipient.

The bags also include a ‘Gift for Giving’ – an additional small gift and card that recipients can give to a friend, neighbour, carer or family member.

They are distributed to older people who would otherwise be alone over the Christmas period.

“I felt like a child opening a Christmas stocking! It brought a smile to my face and made me realise that there are lots of kind people around.”

“It was a nice surprise and cheered me up loads. I've kept the Christmas presents to open on Christmas day. Wonderful boost to my day. Thank you.”

Violet’s Gift
Working in partnership with Violet's Gift meant that we could reach even more older people at Christmas 2020. We were incredibly proud to have been able to work with Violet’s Gift and to be part of such an amazing project.

On Christmas Day 2020, Violet’s Gift announced that 1015 people with no loved ones would be opening a Christmas present and feel a little loved, thanks to hundreds of volunteers who had donated, wrapped and delivered gifts.

The charity said: “This couldn’t have happened without our incredible partner Small Acts of Kindness, who not only ran our present wrapping sessions and kept us Covid secure but helped us improve our project at every stage, provided a personal support to us (including use
of their warehouse) and improved how we support people. Thank you to Lynne Misner and her brilliant team, we are so grateful!”

This pack was wrapped with gifts and contained a Christmas card, a note from the present wrapper, a letter to the recipient and a feedback form.

Croxley Green Parish Council was also a major partner, as a distributor and a drop off point for the gifts which nearly filled the council chamber!

Christmas Kindness

As a further extension of our Celebrate Christmas gift bags initiative, we were delighted to join with Hertfordshire County Council Adult Services and HertsHelp in a new project to provide 3,000 gift boxes which met our principal aim to reduce loneliness and isolation for older people.

It was a pleasure to work with our partners, who funded the project. Christmas Kindness was developed as a project to ensure that so many people would not only receive a wonderful box of gifts, but also know that someone cares about them.

It was also a milestone, as our first partnership project, which demonstrated how we can use our experience to support major organisations, especially in social services, to help them in achieving their goals. We were particularly delighted to have met the considerable logistical challenge by marshalling an army of some 140 wonderful volunteers. They brought with them much enthusiasm and Christmas cheer, helping us to pack and wrap all the boxes in time.

The Christmas Kindness boxes contained biscuits, chocolates, a fleece blanket, socks, a cloth face mask, and a Christmas Card. Also included was a gift card with a message from the person who packed and wrapped the box.

"It made me feel very much loved and cared for, thank you."

"Made me feel very happy and not so alone."

Bags of Kindness
With mass vaccination to protect against Covid-19 underway throughout the country, Hertfordshire County Council announced a project to give 3,000 gift bags to clinically extremely vulnerable people throughout the county. Many had been shielding and, as a result, they had been feeling very lonely and isolated during the pandemic and lockdowns.

To bring some comfort and support, the ‘Bags of Kindness’ project was developed and funded by our partners Hertfordshire County Council Adult Care Services and HertsHelp. We were extremely proud to pack all 3000 bags in under a week, thanks to the help of a fantastic team of volunteers.

The gift bags included a fleece blanket, gloves, hat, face mask, soup, biscuits, hot chocolate, Small Acts of Kindness Activity Book, an information pack, and a KIND bar.

The High Sheriff of Hertfordshire and his wife, were among the 90 volunteers who packed the bags and achieved our target, on time.

Purple Pages Information Packs

In an age where often the first place to look for information is online; many older people face digital isolation simply because they have less access to the internet and are not as digitally literate as those who have grown up in a digital age. They need information to come to them and this project offers multiple opportunities for that to happen.

This is an innovative project because it works in partnership with information and service providers to take information directly to vulnerable older people rather than expecting people to decide for themselves what information they need and then find out how and where to access it.

Our Purple Pages Information Packs contain a comprehensive range of literature about services and activities provided by national and local organisations that are relevant and useful to older people and always with a telephone contact. Information packs are hand-delivered, to older people aged 55 and over, throughout Hertfordshire, alongside our Warm in Winter gift bags and are also available as a standalone item.

A new addition in 2020 was the Purple Pages Directory. This covered the ten council districts of Hertfordshire, providing information on services and activities which are specific to each of those areas.

Also new for the pack in 2020, based on our experience with the Mental Health Liaison Service, based at Watford General Hospital, during the first Coronavirus ‘lockdown’, was an activity book, colouring pencils and a pack of playing cards. During the pandemic, we learned that increased isolation was having a huge impact, but small things could make a big difference. These can help with the mental side-effects of loneliness, especially for those living alone, who are more likely to experience a negative impact on their mental wellbeing.

“I loved everything but especially the leaflets. Lots of information about what's going on in Hertfordshire.”