Events
Community Responds With Kindness
On a hot, sunny Saturday in June, staff, trainees, and volunteers from Communitas and Unitex met at the Communitas parking lot to prepare for their Sidewalk Sale and Car Wash.
The event was an opportunity to raise awareness and funds for Communitas’ services and social enterprises.
For just $20, the staff and trainees of the CommCrew Vehicle Detailing services washed cars. Every car wash customer received a coupon for Little Sprout Café, another Communitas’ social enterprise. Unitex organized the Sidewalk Sale of new, unbranded clothing, with proceeds supporting Communitas’ Acquired Brain Injury services.
Everyone involved hoped the public would come and take advantage of what was being offered. They got what they hoped for – and much more.
“It was so cool to see how engaged the community was,” says Samantha Palmer, Communitas’ philanthropy and donor engagement manager. “When they learned what we were about, they responded in unexpected ways.”
One customer, arrived with a clean car, simply asked the crew to rinse it down, and still paid the $20.
A gentleman had his large pick-up truck washed. When he returned a few minutes later, Samantha wondered if something had gone wrong.
“I was so surprised when he came back with Freezies for all the people washing cars,” she says.
Another couple did the same, returning with ice cream cones for everyone.
One customer, who is also a faithful Communitas donor, came to have their car washed and made a $1000 donation. Quite a tip for a $20 car wash.
“These acts of kindness were so uplifting,” Samantha says.
The Sidewalk Sale was also a success. Nicole Prinsloo, who owns Unitex, was glad to be able to support Communitas in this unique way. A highlight for Nicole was to see the excitement of people coming to the event and to be able to shed more light on Communitas’ work. It was also gratifying for her to see people be able to get a piece of new clothing at reasonable prices.
“As a company that strives to be as sustainable as possible, we love to see people find quality products at accessible prices,” she says. “It also gives new life to products that might not sell otherwise.”
Unitex also printed special t-shirts for the CommCrew team, who were thrilled.
“Having branded t-shirts for our CommCrew Vehicle Detailing team was great for team-building,” says John Kremmer, social enterprises manager for Communitas. “They felt more connected to each other and to the event itself.”
It is serendipitous that the annual theme for Communitas this year is “Kindness Connects”. The connections made with this event alone bear out this theme: the kindness of strangers offering something more than what was expected created a connection between them and those offering services.
“Those acts of kindness turned a simple car wash and sidewalk sale into something truly special,” Samantha says. “It was such a positive experience that I hoped we could tell this story to remind others that kindness really does exist. It’s something we all need to hear more.”
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