Pay It Forward Kindness Festival returns to Limerick this March

Pay It Forward Kindness Festival returns to Limerick this March. There will be a free Programme of events for all to enjoy, to create a wave of kindness across Limerick this March 11 – 17.

From 11 to the 17 of March there will be a number of free events and activities designed to highlight the kindness in every part of Limerick city. Details of the Festival were announced at a launch event in Ardscoil Mhuire, Corbally where Metropolitan Mayor Jerry O’Dea, Minister Jan O’Sullivan and Commandant Donal McGrath were in attendance.

During March, teams of volunteers, local businesses and the people of Limerick who are embracing Pay it Forward will be busy carrying out intentional acts of kindness. This will include little gestures such as restaurants giving free tea or coffee to a customer, or children baking buns and delivering them to the unsung heroes of the community. People who receive these acts of kindness will be encouraged to carry on the good will and pass on the kindness to someone else, creating the ripple effect.

Pay It Forward Kindness Festival
Jan O’Sullivan, Minister for Education and Skills and Chris Samways and Bertie from the Limerick Animal Welfare.
Photo: Oisin McHugh/FusionShooters.

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The action-packed festival programme includes meditation and mindfulness sessions, a kayaking programme and kindness in sport, all of which is free and open to all members of the public. There will be ‘kindness zones’ throughout the city, as well as a family fun day on Bedford Row on Saturday, March 12. On the day, there will be lots of events such as face painting, balloons, an animal petting booth, a medical and physio booth and many other surprises.

Michael O’Mahony, Chair of the Pay It Forward Kindness festival committee explained the concept behind the Festival, “Pay It Forward harnesses the positive momentum and energy of carrying out kind acts. Our aim for the Limerick Kindness Festival is to create a ripple effect; that the ripple will develop into a wave of kindness and that people will continue to carry out acts of kindness for the duration of the festival and throughout the rest of the year. Together we can make Limerick the kindest city in Ireland.”

Officially launching the festival, Minister for Education, Jan O’Sullivan noted, “I’m delighted the launch of the Kindness Festival is taking place in a school and to see so many other educational institutions back the initiative. The fact that you have managed to garner the support from so many children, students, adults, organisations and businesses to give their time, energy and resources for free, bodes well for the Festival and demonstrates the inherent kindness of people in Limerick. Limerick has become a much more positive city in recent years; the city is making something good of itself.”

During the launch, students of Ardscoil Mhuire demonstrated how their school has adopted the Pay It Forward kindness festival concept through a number of initiatives like reviving the school millennium garden, choir singing and a community clean-up.

“I would like to pay a special thanks to all of our sponsors, supporters and volunteers for making this event possible and showing the community spirit alive in our city,” Michael concluded.

Download a programme on the Festival here

Find Pay IT Forward on facebook here  

Read more of Limerick’s latest news here