To tie in with their Act of Kindness campaign, Airedale Hospital & Community Charity produced a ‘Menu of Poems’ to celebrate National Poetry Day with their patients, visitors & colleagues on Thursday 3 October.
The Act of Kindness campaign, commonly referred to as Airedale AOK was launched in October 2021. It began with an aim to spread kindness throughout the local community including colleagues of Airedale NHS Foundation Trust.
Jodie Hearnshaw, Charity Manager said: “Our Act of Kindness campaign began with us spreading random acts of kindness across the Trust to boost morale. This has evolved over the years into the local community. We now speak about the importance of kindness at open days, community events and school assemblies.
“We saw the Menu of Poems as another way for us to give something back to people spending time in hospital and colleagues working across the Airedale Trust sites.”
Assistant Librarian, Martyn Greenwood offered poetry workshops to colleagues during the poetry submission period as a mindfulness exercise.
Martyn said: “This has been such a fun project to be involved with. It’s been really interesting running the workshops and reading about the authors of the poems on the charity website.
“Hopefully this will bring some joy to our colleagues and patients.”
Submissions were received from across the country. Printed versions were given to all patients on their lunch meal tray, were available in the hospitals restaurant and cafes and were given to families of patients staying in ICU and on the neo-natal unit.
You can view all 24 submissions to the 2024 Menu of Poems by visiting www.airedalecharity.org/portfolio/menu-of-poems/. If you’d like to find out more about Airedale AOK including previous campaigns and what’s to come, visit www.airedalecharity.org/portfolio/airedale-aok-our-acts-of-kindness-campaign/.
If you would like to discuss ideas for your own Acts of Kindness idea, contact the charity team by email anhsft.charity@nhs.net or call 01535 294870.
