Scouts issue a good turn challenge

Scouts Canada's Good Turn Week kicks off April 26 and Scouting youth from across the country want to know, what will your Good Turn be? Good Turn Week runs until May 4.

Scouts Canada is challenging all Canadians to join them in Good Turn Week by doing at least one good turn for someone else and asking the recipient to pay it forward, creating a cycle of goodwill across the country. There are countless simple good turns that only take a moment to do.

Here are 10 easy good turns:

Hold a door open for a stranger

Give up your seat on public transit to someone in need

Make a batch of your favourite cookies and share them with your friends or colleagues

Clean out the closet and donate clothes, toys and books to charity or take old towels and sheets to the animal shelter

Spend the afternoon helping out at a local charity

Help an elderly neighbour with grocery shopping or a household chore

Buy a homeless person a meal

Help someone out who is short of change at the store checkout

Buy a coffee for the person in line behind you

Give the gift of relaxation by offering to look after a friend or family member's children for a few hours

"Good Turn Week follows the principles of Scouting that teach youth to always do Good Turns for other people, but it's also about encouraging Canadians of all ages to reach out and do something kind for someone else," said Kaylee Galipeau, National Youth Commissioner and Chair of the National Youth Network for Scouts Canada. "Each act of kindness can make a difference in the lives of the recipient and contribute to a cycle of goodwill that fosters friendlier and happier communities. So we want to know, what will your Good Turn be?"

Canadians can share their good turns with Scouts Canada's 100,000 youth members and adult volunteers by submitting it via Scouts.ca/goodturn or sharing on facebook.com/scoutscanada or Twitter using #goodturn.

In celebration of Good Turn Week's fifth anniversary, Scouts Canada youth in communities across the country are taking on large-scale Good Turn projects such as building portable libraries, refurbishing a community room and cleaning hiking trails in order to bring the week to Canadians. For more information visit: Scouts.ca/goodturn/community-projects.php.

About Scouts Canada

Kids in Scouts have fun adventures, discovering new things and experiences they wouldn't discover elsewhere. Along the way, they develop into capable, confident and well-rounded individuals, better prepared for success in the world. For tens of thousands of children and youth across Canada, Scouts is the start of something great. Scouts Canada is the country's leading co-ed youth organization, with 100,000 members nationwide. Scouts Canada offers programming for children and youth aged 5-26 in multiple languages, reflecting Canada's multicultural landscape and communities. For more information, visit Scouts.ca.