THE POWER OF TWO - PROJECTKINDNESS

The Power of two

CLEMENTINE HARTSON, HELPED BY HER MOTHER, SAW AN OPPORTUNITY TO RETURN THE KINDNESS SHE HAD ONCE BEEN SHOWN THROUGH A DIFFICULT TIME IN HER LIFE. FROM SMALL BEGINNINGS, PROJECTKINDNESS IS A FAST-GROWING AND IN-DEMAND SOURCE OF SUPPORT FOR THOSE STRUGGLING AND IN NEED.

Project Kindness was established in 2017 when I was working in a boarding house for adults with mental health issues and put a request out to the community for art to brighten up the house.

It resulted in so much positive feedback that I decided to set up a charity to share some kindness and make a small difference to people's lives.

In Year 10, I suffered from severe anxiety and promised myself at the time that I would give kindness back in some form one day, as I had so many wonderful people give it to me throughout this difficult period.

ProjectKindness helps in a number of ways, from regular food deliveries to kindness packages for children, to stocking community pantries or upgrading people’s houses to make them homes. It provides kindness and support to a number of people across the community.

It is not funded and relies on the community for donations. We are a case-specific charity, Because we don’t have access to storage facilities at this stage we can’t take donations of items unless we have specific requests for them. We generally support people within a 5-10km radius of Kensington [in Sydney’s eastern suburbs]. Because of limited resources at this point we only collect items within a 5km radius.

One of my biggest dreams is to have a location where we keep all our donations and somewhere for individuals to come and sit down, have a cup of tea and for some human connection.

A lot of the people we support crave human connection, to be seen, loved, valued and heard. I am so passionate about this and believe that this is what life should be about.

The community across all sectors – from businesses to individuals - has been and continues to be very generous with donations of goods, money and time. We would not be able to provide the service we do without the support we receive.

We enlist the help of volunteers as required but prefer that we [Clementine and her mother] remain the interface with our clients. Some situations can be especially challenging and we are very conscious of ensuring that our volunteers are comfortable when they are helping out.

ProjectKindness sees many very challenging situations which make us sad but it is always hardest seeing children who have been through traumatic scenarios.

The individuals we support so show much strength and resilience. They remind me why we do what we do.

People are very welcome to contact us if they would like to assist. An easy way to volunteer is for people to gather non-perishable food for the community pantries and help with regular food deliveries.

www.projectkindness.com.au

Clementine Hartson (right) with some ProjectKindness volunteers.