Photo caption: Carolina Puleston, Claire Easton, Harriet Bell, Clementine Elzinga, Emily Copland and Principal Catherine O’Kane
By Kate Lockyer
Published December 2024
10- and 11-year-olds gathered to do their bit for the community in November, under the direction of Carolina Puleston from commonkind.
Participant Emily Copland said: “You have a good feeling because you know you are giving back to the community.”
The project was part of All Hallows School (AHS)’s Mercy Action program for their Grade 5 and 6 students.
AHS Dean of Mission Claire Easton said: “At All Hallows’ School we have as our focus, service to the community. Catherine McAuley, the founder of the Sisters of Mercy, believed that ‘the poor need help today, not next week!’”
Ms Puleston said they tested over 8,000 markers which would equip 687 schoolchildren with stationery, donated 284kg of food which would feed 48 families, and created 349 ‘kind cards’ to bring a smile to 349 people experiencing homelessness.
Ms Puleston started making ‘kind cards’ with her child and friends’ children in 2020 to send to aged care homes, after seeing how lonely they were during the COVID lockdown.
She said she got “such wonderful feedback” from these “little gestures of common kindness”.
This inspired Ms Puleston to coin the name commonkind for her recently established non-profit organisation that facilitates opportunities for children and families to volunteer for charity.
