Your kids can send a kind message to a child in need - in amazing new initiative

A brand new initiative aimed at showing how kids can help other kids in need has been launched across Australia. 

The Alannah & Madeline Foundation has partnered with Smiggle in the Be Kind campaign which encourages kids who visit one of the 133 stationery stores across the country to write and decorate a card with kind words and pictures. These cards are also available here.

The caring messages of support will then be sorted and placed in Buddy Bags, along with a donated Smiggle product. 

Given to vulnerable children in emergency accommodation, Buddy Bags are backpacks filled with essential items, like pyjamas, a toothbrush and toothpaste, a hairbrush, a pillowslip, a book and an all-important teddy bear.

And now this personal note from one child to another will feature in the bags given out by the Alannah & Madeline Foundation. Since 2007, more than 93,000 Buddy Bags have been distributed nationally.

The Alannah & Madeline Foundation’s CEO, Lesley Podesta, said that it’s always important to remind children to be kind to each other. “We distribute around 10,000 Buddy Bags each year to children going through some of the worst times of their lives,” Ms Podesta said. “Sometimes, it just takes a message from another child to lift their spirits.”

Smiggle Global Head of Marketing Emma Fulford said: “At Smiggle, we pride ourselves on our ability to make all children smile and giggle, to create fun products that bring joy, and to provide a safe store environment where both kids and adults alike can explore and play.” “We’re thrilled to be partnering with the Alannah & Madeline Foundation to support children in their Programs, and to also help bring awareness to the power of being kind.”

To support the partnership, Smiggle has donated $60,000 worth of its much-loved sparkle, neon and pastel scented gel pen packs, as well as the must-have toy of the moment, Squishie keyrings, for inclusion in the Buddy Bags.