In my last post I mentioned that a group of us put our heads together at the WLF opening event and came up with the idea of putting a sofa in the middle of town centre and serving free teas and coffees as a way of starting conversations with people in the area and potentially building relationships. During half term we all met up in KFC (with a few new additions to the group, I happy to say!) and discussed how to best approach the idea.
My friend Jim called the council during the week concerning this idea and we received positive feedback and a go-ahead for whenever we wanted to do it. However, because of Christmas coming up and an increase in bad weather, we decided to postpone this project until February half term. Everyone was very enthusiastic and I really look forward to seeing how it all comes together!
Jim made a promotional video for acts of kindness for the WLF event. In this video, preparation is shown for an act of kindness: a board that says "Good job Subway guy!". The idea behind this was to go to the man who stands with the Subway sign near our shopping centre and show him some appreciation.
The Monday after WLF event Jim and I went into town to fulfil the act of kindness. We marched into town, board and video camera in hand, unsure of whether the guy would even be there and if he was, what his reaction would be.
We went into Starbucks and bought some coffee and a chocolate coin for the Subway man (he was there finally) and I turned on the camera and filmed from a distance as Jim went over to the guy and offered him the coffee and some encouragement.
Dude didn't speak English.
He was like, "No coffee. No chocolate." He couldn't read the sign either and had to call someone over to explain to him what was going on. It was a bit awkward but at least we did it. As we walked away from the man, I turned round and gave him a thumbs-up and smile, hoping that despite his suspicions about our act he would understand that we meant well.
Admittedly it was tempting to become discouraged, but looking back it was actually a very positive thing. Jim wrote this on the WLF page:
I didn't anticipate the reaction my gesture would get from the people sitting outside Starbucks. Everyone saw what was happening and received it well. They thought it was really cool that I'd taken the time to notice someone people normally ignore. That really spoke to me. I was just thinking about the subway guy but actually as I did my act of kindness, there were others that looked on... it made me realise that our witness can travel further than we intend and that thought should spur us on to witness more. In one sense my attempt to do something good for the Subway guy back fired but in reality God multiplied its positive effect because it was seen by others and positively affected them. It was a good opportunity to say that I was from a local church by way of giving context for what we were doing.
In the end I gave the coffee and chocolate to one of the triennial hosts, they too have to stand in one spot and the lady I gave it to was very happy to receive it.
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| It was a little awkward standing there with camera, I have to say. |
Since doing the first official WLF act of kindness with Jim, there has been great response amongst the youth in Folkestone. At our meet-up in KFC with the sofa project group one guy came up with the idea of getting some musicians together and offering to jam with a man in town centre who often busks outside Debenhams by shaking some maracas.
We decided to give it try. Me and my two friends Mung and Simeon all got together to practice a couple of songs that we could play with the maraca man were he to let us join him. Jim, who came along to record us, went out to scout for the maraca man and ask him if he would be okay with us joining him while we practiced.
He was nowhere to be found.
However, that was not the end of it. Jim came across a homeless man sitting outside of Debenhams collecting pennies in his beanie. He asked the man if he would be okay if a bunch of us came and busked for a bit and give him the money that we collected from it. He smiled and said we could do whatever we wanted.
I have to say that initially I was very nervous. Not only did Simeon and Mung turn to be much better musicians that I had expected, but I am not a performer by nature and had never busked in my life, so going out and forcing my lame guitar and singing skills on the people of Folkestone was absolutely terrifying. I sucked it up though, refusing to chicken out, and got playing.
It was great fun! We managed to gather a small crowd of spectators and a couple of people sang along as they walked by. In half an hour we raised just over £2. We went over to the homeless man and gave it to him, wishing him a nice rest of the day. He received it but was rather indifferent and expressed no particular emotion to what was going on. Here's the video Jim put together:
These are not the only 2 acts of kindness that have been done in the last couple of weeks. One youth group gave out free chocolates in town and another cleaned graffiti off of some local buildings. Multiple people have been nominated to do singular acts of kindness, too - one boy in our youth group gave a lollipop lady some chocolate.
What we are doing is nothing extravagant. I don't imagine a lot of people remember what we have done, but I believe that if we carry on being consistent in our kindness in groups and as individuals, we will start turning heads and touching hearts.
None of this is about us. Doing this does not give us Christian brownie points or make us better than others. Our passion is to see Folkestone changed by love - a beautiful, sacrificial love that comes only from God. This challenge to kindness is changing each one of us the more we do it. It is making us more aware of those around us and changing the way we look at people.
Folkestone is more than the buildings and the landscape that we see - it's the people that live in it. We are the people of Folkestone and any change that happens in us is the beginning of a change in Folkestone.
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