What started as a construction paper Christmas tree taped to the kitchen cabinet has become an interactive app activity encouraging people to do kind acts ahead of Christmas.
Aurora resident Beth Duffy had the idea around 20 years ago, when her children were younger.
“We started it when our children were little because we wanted to find a way to focus on kindness and giving during the holiday season as well as receiving and we wanted something fun that we could do together,” she said.
They taped their paper tree to the cabinets and for every kind act they did, they would add a paper ornament to it, with the goal of having the whole tree decorated by Dec. 25.
They shared the idea with their friends and family and after a few years decided to make it available for a wider community.
That’s when the Christmas Tree of Kindness app was born and as of last year they had more than 4,500 downloads.
There are two different versions of the app. The paid one features a digitized version of the original Christmas Tree of Kindness.
You can set a goal for how many acts of kindness you want to complete, either 10, 15, 20 or 25, and then add an ornament to the virtual tree for every one you do.
The acts of kindness could be as simple as saying hello to people you pass or helping out at home.
“It’s great to volunteer your time on a Saturday afternoon and do things but it also can be small gifts during the day, whether it’s to your own family or people that you meet along the way during your day,” Duffy said.
With the paid app, you can even invite others to join your tree and will be able to see their ornaments added and the kind acts they complete.
“If you have friends that live far away or family, it’s a great way to connect during the holiday season and feel closer by doing good things,” Duffy said.
The app also includes a printable activity which is the paper version of the Christmas tree for people who would rather participate offline.
They have also included a short story about an evergreen tree named Spruce and it’s furry friend Holly who Duffy said “inspire everybody to decorate trees of kindness.”
She said the story has been really well received.
“Some people say, ‘hey, the story is the glue. It’s the best thing, it’s better than the app.’ but what I like to say is it just gives people options. There’s different ways to enjoy and enrich the activity,” she said.
To help encourage more people to partake, they also made a free version of the app called Christmas Kindness.
“We made the app free to make it easy for schools to use,” Duffy said.
While she’s not sure if classes in Newmarket are taking-part this year she said she welcomes them to do so, adding that the app works well on a Smartboard.
The free version has the digital Christmas tree with 39 ornaments to choose from, however it doesn’t have the same sharing options and users don’t get the printable activity or the short story.
However, whether you get the paid or free version of the app, Duffy said the most important thing is doing kind acts this season.
“They’re great ways to build community, which I think we all cherish in today’s day and age. You know our community is the people that we see, of course in our homes, hopefully our neighbours, but also it’s the people that you see at the drugstore or the supermarket or people that you pass when you’re walking your dog. Just being nice to one another helps create a nice community for all of us,” she said.
She added that it’s been even more important to share kindness throughout the pandemic.
“Sometimes when we’re going through different things it feels more difficult to give but the saying is true, when you give you receive,” Duffy said.
They have launched a social media challenge to encourage even more people to get involved.
On their Instagram, they’re asking you to complete a 10 act Christmas Tree of Kindness challenge and share your acts by tagging them on social media.
While you can set a goal of 25 acts of kindness through the app, Duffy said they wanted to start small.
“We thought it was best to start out small and have achievable goals,” she said.
Both the paid and free versions of the app are available for download on the Apple app store. The paid app costs $1.39.
