News | Posted 17 February 2023
Celebrating all acts of kindness – a look back at Festival of Kindness 2022
Kindness has always been a part of Social Bite’s DNA and we have THE kindest supporters and followers. In fact, we were so overwhelmed with all your generosity during Festival of Kindness, it has taken almost until the end of February to tally up all the ways in which your support has created an impact.
Today, on National Random Acts of Kindness, we celebrate YOU and all the meaningful ways you have made a difference to thousands of people experiencing homelessness and poverty across the country.
HIGHLIGHTS IN NUMBERS
We set out with a mission to provide 300,000 meals, gifts, and essential items over winter. We’re delighted to say that together, we smashed this target with a grand total of 439,750* meals and items funded! We’re simply blown away by everyone’s generosity and kindness – especially during such challenging times.
Gifts – An incredible 113,572 gifts were donated; including those brought to the Trees of Kindness, from large corporate partners (more on that below), and gifts purchased with thanks to everyone that donated through the Social Bite website.
Meals – So far, more than 317,000 meals have been funded.
*One of our major partners, Just Eat, generously extended their support into February so even more to come!
Community of Kindness
We were delighted to collaborate with 96 charity partners across the UK to share kindness.
15 schools also joined the movement of kindness; fundraising and donating gifts at the Trees of Kindness in all five cities.
Our annual partnership with itison saw 64,936 vouchers purchased, which will help to fund our ongoing food provision throughout 2023.
Festival of Kindness has only been made possible thanks to our dedicated and loyal volunteers. An amazing 174 volunteers donated 1068 hours of their time, withstanding freezing temperatures, making their efforts even more commendable.
PACKED WITH KINDNESS
We’d like to shine a light on one of our amazing partners who made an incredible contribution to this year’s Festival of Kindness – Mackie.
Mackie donated in excess of 37,000 items (a combination of hats, gloves, scarfs and warm clothes) – to a value of over £1.5M. Many of these items went into the gift backpacks seen pictured on the right, which were distributed on Christmas Eve and Christmas day via our shops. We’ve been partnered with Mackie since 2017; their generosity this Festival of Kindness has been so amazing that we were also able to distribute their gifts to displaced Ukrainian communities at home and abroad, in partnership with the charity Welcome Hub.
What a partnership, thank you Mackie!
(pictured – One of the gift backpacks given to people experiencing homelessness. Each backpack included: two packs of socks, a power bank, a pre-paid sim card, a shopping voucher, headphones, Mackie scarf, gloves and hat, and a selection box).
WORDS OF KINDNESS
“We are beyond grateful for your support and generosity.” Community Partner
“Thanks to you we have served 131 yummy Christmas meals to our rough sleeping, homeless and vulnerable guests.” Community Partner
“The donations we got were amazing and they will make such a difference to so many of our families.” Community Partner
“We are so proud to be supporting an inspirational charity and we are also super excited to be coming to the Festival of Kindness Tree” Primary 5/6 Pupils
“Thank you very much to all the guys at Social Bite yesterday. I had a lovely meal and received much appreciated gifts. Made my Christmas.” Social Bite Guest
“The best present I’ve ever received.” Christmas Day Attendee
Thank you, thank you, thank you to every single person who made Festival of Kindness 2022 possible. We are so unbelievably grateful for all your support. Here’s to making 2023 the Year of Kindness!