General News
20 June, 2023
Cobden Kindness success
A COBDEN resident and mother of four recently found a grocery voucher in her letter box, left anonymously as a random act of kindness.
A COBDEN resident and mother of four recently found a grocery voucher in her letter box, left anonymously as a random act of kindness.
The voucher accompanied a ‘Kindness postcard’ which was part of the Cobden Kindness and Connection project.
Households all around Cobden, Cobrico and Simpson received a ‘Kindness postcard’ in the mail with an accompanying list of 15 ideas for random acts of kindness.
The project encouraged people to send the postcard to someone they care about, complete a random act of kindness without expecting anything in return or write a positive note and leave it somewhere for a stranger to find.
It also provided 12 other small act of kindness ideas.
The aim of the Cobden Kindness and Connection Project was to spread joy and kindness, encourage gratitude, connect and reconnect people within the community in which they live and work.
Just as negativity is contagious, so too is positivity. The card said that by showing your appreciation and being kind to yourself and others, you too can help spread the message that kindness counts.
Research indicates that being grateful, the act of acknowledging the good in our lives, can improve overall happiness.
Cobden business and economic development consultant Laura Hultgren said the Cobden Kindness and Connection Project gave the community an opportunity to inspire people to take positive action and remind them of all that is great about this community after the disconnection that occurred from COVID lockdowns, and the accompanying disappointment at some local retail business closures.
“Some people have been asking what the note to younger self tags that they have been seeing are all about,” she said.
“This is another part of the Cobden Kindness and Connection project where people were asked to write a short piece of wisdom they have gained to be shared with younger generations and anyone else curious to read them.
“Some of the advice so far includes: ‘Worry less about what others think of you’, ‘Never say yes if you really mean no’ and ‘Dream big and challenge yourself to take on new experiences. You can do great things, take a deep breath and jump.”
Tags have been shared with Cobden Probus Club, Rotary Club of Cobden, U3A Corangamite, Cobden Senior Citizens Club, Cobden Bowls Club, Cobdenhealth residential care and Cobden Technical School.
The Cobden Kindness and Connection Project received grant funding from the South West Community Foundation and the Australian Government in partnership with the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal.
The project was delivered by the Cobden Business Network, Progressing Cobden and Cobden’s Business and Economic Development Consultant.
In addition to the kindness postcards, two giant community artworks were painted at Cobden community events and have been put on display in the windows of the old hardware store.
A gratitude blackboard wall was installed at two Cobden community events over Christmas where people could write something they were grateful for.
Cobden Anglican Church Reverend Kaye Hanks said she was “delighted” by the positivity generated by the gratitude wall and hoped the gratitude and positivity would continue to spread throughout Cobden.
Social Quilting For Good was another arm of the project where local quilters came together over a few months in 2023 to sew quilts for charity.
Four quilts have been donated to MacKillop Family Services to date to be given to local foster children. “The Social Quilting For Good arm of the project was so successful that we are looking to
continue this” said Helen Smith from Cobden Sewing Machines, who is also a member of the Cobden Business Network and Progressing Cobden.