Rainy Day Trust launches Thousand Smiles September, our kindness challenge for the sector

Rainy Day Trust is thrilled to announce the launch of Thousand Smiles September, our new sector-wide kindness challenge, delivered in partnership with Wellbeing People. Throughout September 2026, we’re inviting teams from across the home improvement and home enhancement industry to do one simple thing every day: a random act of kindness. Something small. Something intentional. Something for someone else. 

The idea couldn’t be simpler. Each day in September, every participant logs one act of kindness in the Habits for Health app built by our delivery partner Wellbeing People. It doesn’t need to be grand. Making a colleague a coffee counts. Checking in on someone you know is struggling counts. Sending a voice note to a friend you haven’t spoken to in a while counts. The app prompts you each day with ideas, tracks your team’s progress, and keeps the momentum going with a live leaderboard and shareable badges. 

This campaign is rooted in something we know to be true about our sector. Men in home improvement are three times more likely to die by suicide than the general population. More than 1 in 4 workers have considered ending their own life. And most of those people suffer in silence, not because support doesn’t exist, but because no one made it normal to reach out.  

A simple act of kindness making someone feel seen, checking in before things get bad can change everything. Research shows that performing acts of kindness benefits the giver and the receiver equally. Thousand Smiles September puts that into practice, across our whole industry, every day for a month. 

Teams of 3-4 register together, smaller teams than our Mad March Million Campaign earlier this year. This means even the smallest businesses can take part. Multiple teams can enter from a single organisation, so larger businesses can run internal competitions too.  

The Habits for Health app tracks individual and team points in real time, with a Top 10 leaderboard visible throughout September.  

Prizes go to the highest-points team and the highest-fundraising team, and every participant earns digital badges as they go. 

Fundraising sits at the heart of Thousand Smiles September too, because every pound raised helps us be there for someone in our sector at the moment they need it most. One of the simplest acts of kindness you can log is a small donation to Rainy Day Trust. Skip a coffee three days this week and put £9 in a pot. It isn’t about big asks. It’s about many small gestures adding up to something that genuinely changes lives. 

In our sector, people are quietly struggling every day. Thousand Smiles September is about changing that, one small act at a time. You don’t need to do something grand. You just need to show up for someone.

Anna Skeats

Chief Executive, Rainy Day Trust

Register your team now

Registration is open now, with the campaign running throughout September 2026. Teams of 3-4 are all it takes.

Registration is open now, with the campaign running throughout September 2026. Teams of 3-4 are all it takes.  

Sign up, download the Habits for Health app, and get ready to make your sector a kinder place, one day at a time. 

To sum up

Everything you need to know about getting involved in Thousand Smiles September 2026.

What is Thousand Smiles September?

A month-long kindness challenge running throughout September 2026, open to teams across the home improvement and home enhancement sector. Participants perform one random act of kindness each day and log it in the Habits for Health app. The campaign is delivered in partnership with Wellbeing People.

How does it work?

Teams of 3-4 register together. Each participant logs one daily act of kindness in the Habits for Health app, earns points, and climbs the leaderboard. Daily push notifications suggest ideas. Shareable badges mark your progress. The campaign runs 1st to the 30th September 2026.

Who can take part?

All Rainy Day Trust partner businesses are included as part of their membership. Non-partner organisations in our sector are also welcome with a minimum team fundraising commitment of £500. Registration is open from 1st July 2026.

Thousand Smiles September is open to everyone

All you need is a team of 3-4 people and a willingness to do one small thing each day for someone else. Any organisation in the home improvement and home enhancement sector can take part. Rainy Day Trust partner businesses join as part of their membership. Non-partner organisations are welcome with a minimum team fundraising commitment of £500, which goes directly towards supporting people in crisis across our sector.

• Perform one random act of kindness per day throughout September, at work, at home, or online.
• Log your act daily in the Habits for Health app to earn points and climb the leaderboard.
• Teams of 3-4 from any business, role or level, there’s no minimum experience required.
• Rainy Day Trust partner businesses join as part of their membership for no additional cost.
• Non-partner organisations welcome with a £500 minimum team fundraising commitment.