Although he passed away in January 2018, businessman Robert Acker Holt brought kindness to over 100,000 children around the world - and the ripple effects in Glasgow from his remarkable life have made him one of Tes Scotland‘s 2019 people of the year.
Having fled the Nazis in Vienna as a Jewish refugee, aged 16, Acker Holt came to the UK to make a new life for himself. But whatever life had in store, he never forgot the small acts of kindness shown to him during the dark times of the Nazi regime and his journey to London.
Kindness was at the heart of his life’s work and his family say that people thrived in his presence and were inspired to remain optimistic in life and loving to others.
Following his death, it was this legacy that inspired his sons Jason Holt and Stuart Acker Holt to found the Kindness Movement in his memory. The movement aims to encourage children to consider and share small acts of kindness, and for them to be discussed and celebrated in schools and homes.
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The Kindness Movement
Since its launch in November 2018, the Kindness Book has been translated from English into German, Dutch, French, Italian and Spanish, and thousands of copies have been distributed to schools in 41 countries.
In May, Glasgow became the first “kindness city” in the UK, with a “kindness book” in every primary school classroom. Over 100,000 children have been reached by the movement now, and that figure is growing.
Robert’s filmmaker son, Stuart, has now created some short films, launched on World Kindness Day, to spread the message even further.
Jason Holt wrote in Tes in November: “If one person’s story can have such an impact, then the possibilities are endless for what we can do with 100,000. The ultimate goal is to collate over a million stories of kindness, which will become an exhibition in the future.” It is the lasting impact of his life’s work on children across the UK that makes Robert Acker Holt one of our people of the year for 2019.
