What acts of kindness have we seen?

The acts of kindness seen during this pandemic are, thankfully, too numerous to mention in one article. For a daily dose of good deeds, it's worth checking the #AlbertaCares hashtag. Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta's chief medical officer of health, has been encouraging Albertans to share acts of kindness there, and sometimes she highlights them in her daily news conference.

You can also find acts of kindness, as well as opportunities to be kind to others, on YEG Community Response to COVID19, a Facebook group that has grown to thousands of members.

Another place to look for good news is #caremongering, a movement that the BBC credits to Canada. Examples include members of the Canadian Federation of Medical Students from the University of Alberta who fanned out to spread "kindness and humanity," and the Isolation 4 Love effort to support self-isolating travellers that started back in February.

For a short period, some were bringing food to health care workers. That has since been banned for safety reasons, but businesses have found other ways to show their appreciation or help patrons show theirs. For example:

• Tiffin provided gift certificates to hospital workers;
• Remedy offered free drinks to first responders and hospital staff;
• Analog Brewing's Nurse a Pint Program lets you buy a beer for an AHS worker, to be collected once the taproom opens again.
• Sunterra Market is offering 25% off ready-made products to AHS workers.
• The Edmonton IKEA donated 41,000 N95 masks to health care workers.

Others have been donating to charity:

• Virgin Radio's Feed Your Friends campaign for Edmonton's Food Bank garnered big donations from actors Ryan Reynolds and Nathan Fillion;
• Ultra Shine offered free sanitation services to non-profits;
• Oodle Noodle donated hundred of meals, and is now donating 10% of all takeout orders to local charities.
• A number of restaurants and hotels that were forced to close donated to Edmonton's Food Bank.
• Local tech companies have committed more than $150,000 for Edmonton's Food Bank via the #YEGTechCares campaign.

If you are in a position to donate to charity, ATB Cares will match eligible donations by 50% (up from the usual 15%) throughout the month of April.

Jessica Barratt shared some good things to come out of the pandemic on The Local Good. Keith Gerein gathered up some local acts of kindness, too.