Pay with kindness

This was going to be a piece about an interesting Dean of Carlisle Cathedral but, as I was walking by the Cathedral from the hairdresser’s to the car park, I came across a group of people outside a shop and quite a bit of activity. I also noticed a person with a big chain, presumably the Mayor.

Kinder Shop
(That’s kinder as in kindness, not Kinder as in Surprise). Apparently this is like a normal shop selling a range of household items such as deckchairs, lamps. But you don’t pay with money you pay with kindness, i.e. you sign up for a number of hours volunteering with a local charity. I didn’t find out about this until later, so didn’t get a chance to ‘buy’ anything. Apparently lots of people have done - over 200 hours have been signed up.

It’s a Cumberland Building Society (our bank) venture so presumably they are providing the goods. (They are a kind bank anyway - kind to their staff and to their customers.)

I think it’s a one day event and there is to be a repeat on Friday in Kendal. The poster says it’s a ‘world first’, but I think there was a shop in Dumfries a couple of days ago. They probably meant the venture is a first.

Good for the Cumberland - certainly the world could do with a little kindness at the moment.