Lent challenge inspires ‘2.9 million generous acts’

Over 2.9million acts of generosity were carried out over Lent, according to Stewardship, inspired by the charity’s 40acts challenge.

40acts challenged people to do one simple generous act each day during Lent. Some 75,000 people took part, making this year’s challenge the biggest in its five year history.

Over the 40 days of Lent participants cleaned graffiti off local buildings, left free chocolates in gym lockers, wrote letters of encouragement to those in prison, surprised strangers with flowers or bought coffee for them in cafés, and invited the neighbours around for ‘pudding parties’ in an attempt to ‘give out’ rather than just give something up for Lent.

One of the most popular challenges of this year’s 40acts was #chocolatetuesday, where thousands of people slipped chocolate bars into people’s handbags, gave out free chocolates on trains and buses, or bought in sweet treats for their class at school.

Ruth Bartholomew, who took part in 40acts with her husband and three daughters said: “We chose to do 40acts as a family so that we would have activities that we could do together and to show kindness within our family and also to our community members.

“It has had a positive impact on us all. By delivering flowers, cakes, and treats to our neighbours, we have positively influenced our community and opened doors to more meaningful relationships with those we share life with.”

The challenge encourages people to make living generously a daily habit and gives participants the opportunity to be generous not just with their money, but also with their time, their words, their skills and their hugs.

40acts concluded on Saturday 4 April; those taking part were challenged to do one last anonymous blow-out act of generosity that stretched them beyond their comfort zones.
Stewardship, a Christian finance charity, provided tailored materials to ensure schools, churches, groups, students, families and individuals could take part.

40acts also has a big following on social media where those taking part share their actions for each day and encourage each other.

Alexandra Khan, part of the 40acts team at Stewardship, said: “It’s been a phenomenal year. The 40acts community is an incredible mix of people from all over the world. We’ve loved hearing their stories, seeing new friendships forged, and watching a ripple of generosity happen throughout Lent. For the last 40 days, the motto was ‘do Lent generously’. But now? Now it’s time to ‘do Life generously’.”