Nerida

How I got started; Ever since I can remember I’ve always loved doing acts of kindness for others. So when I came across the Facebook page and website about a year ago I knew 1000 Hearts was for me and ordered a starter kit. I’ve loved connecting to the 1000 Hearts community as I’ve lived away from Australia for 16 years. ‍

Why I stuck at it; I teach full time in an international school in Hong Kong as well as study part time and have two young children. So there’s not much down time but Sewing hearts is a very mindful activity for me. It’s very relaxing and calming so I pull out my hearts kit when I need to just pause for a while.

My two children Noah, 9 and Talia, 7 enjoying sewing them too and giving them to show gratitude and kindness. ‍

What they’re used for; I sewed hundreds of hearts during the Australian bushfires in January as my family’s hometown was hit hard so it was a horrible time being so far away but sewing hearts gave me something to keep me busy. I sent a box of hearts to the community preschool in my hometown Batlow in NSW which was badly affected by the fires.

I’ve given a lot of hearts during COVID-19 to families in self-quarantine in small apartments and given them extra so they can plan on who they can give them to in order to keep kindness growing.

I’m an early years teacher and there’s often children who find transition to school a challenge or have difficulty settling to school. They’ve been amazing for my students to tuck in their pocket. I always give 2 hearts to the child so they can give one to mum or dad so they can squeeze it through the day and know mum or dad is going the same. My goal is to make sure every new students transitioning to our school gets one on arrival. We also have a bowl of hearts in our staff room and counselling offices so great motivation to keep sewing!

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