Friday November 13, 2020
The Power of Kindness
NEWS
Cairns Local News
And the winner is … BATS
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1000 RAK Challenge NICOLE GIBSON
THE science is in – kindness not only helps others, it makes you happier and healthier which is why we’ve teamed up with the Kindness Crew of FNQ for a feel good challenge this World Kindness Day. The Kindness Crew of FNQ and Cairns Local News are challenging locals to perform random acts of kindness across the weekend as part of celebrations for World Kindness Day, today. The challenge encourages people to head to the Cairns Local News Facebook page and tell us when they have either performed or been the beneficiary of a random act of kind-
ness, with the goal of registering 1000 acts by Monday.
The Kindness Crew of FNQ, founded by Connect Magazine North Queensland’s Renee Cashman, are a local Facebook community committed to fostering kindness in the region. Ms Cashman said random acts of kindness were often easy to do and could be as simple as opening the door for someone in the shops or letting someone ahead of you during peak hour traffic. “Paying for coffee for the person behind you in a café or making a donation to a local charity like Yaps or Anglicare are also other good ones,” Ms Cashman said.
Ms Cashman said a good personal goal for people was to challenge themselves to compliment every person they come across in a day. “Simple things like that make a difference and can literally turn not just a person’s day but a person’s life around,” she said. For locals keen to ride the kindness vibe the group are also running a free workshop called a Time to Be Kind at 6.30pm at the Kamerunga Mediation and Wellness Centre. For more information visit the Kindness Crew’s Facebook page or to share a random act of kindness see facebook.com/ cairnslocalnews.
To make your donation, visit any Council Customer Service Centre or call 1300 763 903. Direct deposit and credit card options available.
NICOLE GIBSON First-time documentary filmmaker Kate Mascall took out The People’s Choice award at the Understory Film Festival Saturday night with her short film, Progress and Pool Noodles. The film, which also won the award for best documentary, documents Cairns Regional Council’s ongoing efforts to disperse a colony of endangered flying foxes from their roost at Cairns Library. Mascall has been documenting the dispersal since it began in July and said she entered the
competition in the hope it would provide another avenue for people to see what was happening to the species. “When I started watching the dispersal down on the street, I picked up a camera because I was kind of in disbelief at what I was seeing,” she said. “I was really accumulating all this shocking footage and thinking that I wanted more people to be able to see this at some point.” The dispersal has divided the Cairns community with Council maintaining it is necessary for the species long-term survival, while environmental
action groups say it is putting the already endangered creatures at further risk of extinction. Mascall said given the controversial nature of the issue she was grateful that the film was included in the Council run awards, which are assessed by an independent panel of judges. Other winners on the night included Daydreamer’s Pursuit by high school student Jasmine Bryan which won both Best Film and Best High School Student Film. Locals wanting to watch the films can head to the Understory Film Festival’s Facebook page for further details.
