The Rainy Day Trust is launching Thousand Smiles September, calling on every business in the home improvement and home enhancement industry to get involved.

The Rainy Day Trust is launching Thousand Smiles September, a month-long, sector-wide kindness and fundraising challenge in which every participant commits to one intentional act of kindness each day throughout September, logging it through the Habits for Health app by Wellbeing People, watching their team climb a real-time leaderboard, and contributing to a growing collective smiles counter across the whole sector.

Thousand Smiles September is the second challenge in the Rainy Day Trust's annual industry wellbeing series. The first, Mad March Million, showed what this sector is capable of: 136 people across more than 20 businesses collectively completed 2,277,000 steps in a single month. This time, the focus is on emotional wellbeing. 

Anna Skeats, CEO, Rainy Day Trust, explained: "Our sector has disproportionately high rates of mental health challenges. But we also have something special, a strong community of people who look out for each other.

"Thousand Smiles September is a chance to make that visible. A coffee for a colleague, a message to someone who's been quiet, taking a moment to say thank you; these small acts add up to something extraordinary. We want every business in our sector to be part of this.

"Teams of four sign up, attend a short onboarding webinar in July, and then spend September doing what good people do anyway, just a little more intentionally. One act per day, logged in seconds on the Habits for Health app. At work or at home, in person or online. No rigid rules: if it's intentional, a little beyond the ordinary, and it made someone smile, it counts.

"Each team of four can generate up to 120 smiles across the month. With 80 teams, that's up to £8,000 in fundraising, enough to fund around 200 hours of mental health support for people in our sector who are in crisis."

Throughout the month, teams can garner bronze, silver, and gold badges to share on social media as the smiles build, and prize hampers will be awarded at the end of the campaign to the highest-scoring and highest-fundraising teams.

Skeats, added: "Thousand Smiles September isn't just a wellbeing programme. It's a statement from our whole industry that we see each other, we value each other, and we're building a culture where no one has to struggle alone.

"For businesses, the benefits are clear: it demonstrates commitment to employee mental wellbeing, supports ESG and social value goals, and builds real genuine morale, all with minimal time and no additional cost for Rainy Day Trust corporate partners. Organisations not yet partnered with the Trust are very welcome to take part, with simple registration options available,  Thousand Smiles September is for our whole sector."

Registration will be open between 1 July and 1 August 2026. 

Organisation wishing to be part of Thousand Smiles September should email: anna@rainydaytrust.org.uk.