Simple acts of kindness in memory of a slain police officer are the highlight of International Women’s Day in Truro, N.S.
“Kindness cards” distributed by the Central Nova Women’s Centre display Const. Catherine Campbell’s photo along with a request for a simple act, such as giving someone a smile, a compliment or a hug.
Campbell, 36, had been an officer with Truro Police Service for six years when she was killed in September 2015, while offduty. Her body was found near the foot of a bridge in Halifax.
Christopher Calvin Garnier, 27, is charged with second-degree murder in her death.
“Catherine was always adventurous, and believed from an early age that women could do anything a man could,” Mandy Wong, Campbell’s aunt, said at her funeral last September.
Mary Jane Jeffery, the support worker who developed the kindness campaign, says Tuesday was the perfect day to distribute the 2,500 cards printed in Campbell’s memory.
“Today is International Women’s Day. We look at gender parity. Equality. All things Catherine believed in,” Jeffery says.
In the photo printed on the cards, Campbell is seen holding a whiteboard with the words, “#REASONTORISE One act of kindness can go a long way!!”
The photo was taken as part of a local project the officer worked on to raise awareness about violence against women.
The card campaign is passing on Campbell’s idea of spreading kindness and generated a positive response from women who have received the cards on the street.
“I think it’s an absolutely wonderful idea. I think we should all be doing it on a daily basis, regardless whether we have a card or not,” says Shelley Benvie.
Connie McGregor agreed.
“That means a lot to people — because we don’t know what’s going on behind their hearts, right?”
Jeffery says the cards are so popular that she expects to run out by the end of the week. The centre has already started fundraising to print more cards.
With a report from CTV Atlantic’s Dan MacIntosh
