WHEN solicitor Jenna Atkinson was inspired to start her Be A Little Kinder campaign at the beginning of this year, little did she realise that, within weeks, it would be needed more than ever

During a New Year trip to New York Jenna, from Lostock, came up with the idea of picking someone at random each week and surprising them with an act of kindness.

Her ideas ranged from little notes and postcards with words of encouragement or praise to small pamper products and books with positive messages.

Jenna says she hopes the gestures will give others the same feeling of support and encouragement that she receives from being part of the Pink Link networking group of businesswoman.

And, as people are confined to their homes, she wants more people to join her by thinking about the things they can do support others and starting their own Be A Little Kinder projects.

“The actual campaign is really a way of people in business being kinder in general and focusing on kindness as a priority rather than being just a last minute thought,” said Jenna.

“The idea was to pick someone at random and just send them a random act of kindness each week.

“Sometimes you just get so wrapped up in your busy job and your day, you forget to do little things for others.”

Jenna says she knows, from personal experience, how small gestures, such as receiving a hand written letter rather than an email, can give you a boost.

Her husband, Matt, even proposed to her in a letter, which she now has framed.

And she believes, especially at the moment, with the country in lockdown, people need to be thought about more by others. “People keep doing it for me at the minute — just leaving little things or posting things and it is really brightening my day,” said 31-year-old Jenna.

“I have a lot of family and friends I can speak to but we’re feeling it like everyone else in the country. You can’t just nip round to see people.

“Just a little postcard can make your day. Email can be so impersonal, doing little things like postcards can make a difference to someone’s mental health, especially at the moment if they’re on their own.”

Jenna works as a busy family solicitor but, in the current crisis, believes her random acts of kindness are more important than ever and so is carrying one out every day now instead of her original plan of once a week.

“If more people were doing it then it would make more people feel better,” said Jenna, who has just been nominated as a finalist in the Woman in the Law category of this year’s She Inspire Awards.