Bayfair gives $10,000 back to the community through Random Acts of Kindness

Age-old truisms, such as ‘there is no such thing as a free lunch’ are being rewritten this month at Bayfair Shopping Centre. The centre is turning this and many other old adages on their head this August by surprising shoppers in a month-long stint of paying it forward, with random acts of kindness.

With National RAK Day (Random Acts of Kindness Day) coming up on September 1,  Bayfair has decided to extend the celebrations and turn the entire month of August into a month of giving back in the lead-up to the big day.

The centre has pledged to give $10,000 back to the community through random acts of kindness, whereby unsuspecting Bayfair shoppers could be showered with gifts or shoulder-tapped to have their shopping paid for by the centre. Among the gifts the centre is bestowing on shoppers this month are flower bouquets, free coffees, gift cards and car cleans. These gifts, along with surprise purchase payments will be given to Bayfair shoppers at random and will be available to anyone, anywhere, at any time throughout the month.

Louise Chapman, Marketing Manager at Bayfair says the experience of paying it forward is incredibly uplifting and would like to encourage those in the Bay area to do the same at home, in the workplace or anywhere.

“We believe the mantra of paying it forward is already instilled in locals as we see generosity on a regular basis in our local community. It is with this in mind that we decided to give back this month and offer our shoppers a little something extra through spontaneous surprises and gifts. Sometimes all it takes is a smile and a helping hand to make someone’s day – we would love to challenge locals to partner with us and make their colleagues, neighbours and peers feel appreciated this month.”

In addition to the in-centre Random Acts of Kindness taking place at Bayfair during the month, the centre wanted to assist their Facebook community in paying it forward by initiating a Facebook drive to donate to SPCA Tauranga. The challenge for Bayfair’s 4,000 Facebook followers was to raise as many ‘likes’ as possible over a period of 3 days – each like would be considered as a $1 donation by Bayfair to the charity. The community rallied together to generate a total of 2,471 likes, meaning SPCA Tauranga will receive a $2,471 donation from Bayfair.

“It’s so fantastic and heart-warming to see how quickly and with such passion people get behind their local charities, and use their networks and online communities in a combined effort to raise money for a good cause,” says Louise Chapman.

Participating Bayfair retailers are also practicing their own random acts of kindness in-store, meaning there are several opportunities to experience a good deed when visiting the centre.