Kindness Day

Every 6th May, the founding family and MJF Group teams honour the birth anniversary of our beloved Dilmah Founder, Merrill J. Fernando, with the commemoration of ‘Kindness Day’. What better way to celebrate him than through this annual programme of sharing kindness with those less fortunate, reiterating our commitment to his vision towards making a stand for kindness. Kindness Day represents the philosophy and purpose of Dilmah, and we hope it encourages our wider global community to participate in acts of kindness too.

The first-ever Kindness Day was commemorated on 6th May 2024, on what would have been our Founder’s 94th birthday, where we celebrated the enduring legacy of kindness he instilled in every sip of Dilmah tea and every moment of hospitality.

In 2024, 100 of our staff from Dilmah Sri Lanka, including employees from Kahawatte Plantations, Dilmah Conservation, MJF Foundation, Resplendent Ceylon and Forbes and Walker devoted the latter half of their work day to voluntary programmes conducted nationwide in 12 locations. From spending time with the elderly, renovating and cleaning community schools and homes, and organising a fun day for the young patients at Suwa Arana – a Place for Healing, our staff volunteered on the 6th and after to make a difference. We also distributed 1,550 ration packs of food items across the island from Pallansena; the birthplace of our Founder, to Peliyagoda, Kalkudah, Weligama, Jaffna, Moratuwa and beyond.

In 2025, food packs, containing essential items to feed an average family for two weeks, are being shared with factory colleagues from several of our subsidiaries. In addition to nearly 1,000 packs for our colleagues, 400 elderly, retired workers on Kahawatte Plantations in Nawalapitiya and Kahawatte and over 600 of the most needy families in some of the most rural and far reaching corners of Sri Lanka received packs through our MJF Foundation Centres in the North and East. These packs also found their way to low income communities in Moratuwa, Peliyagoda and Kolonnawa. Meanwhile, 40 packs were presented to the families of children suffering from cancer who are being cared for at Suwa Arana – Sri Lanka’s first Paediatric Palliative Care Centre. Our extended MJF family – our staff – also made their own generous contributions to lunch and gifts offered to 26 children at the Peter Weerasekera Children’s Home in Yakkala, 20 pregnant mothers and 42 children at the Mother Theresa Home in Moratuwa, and 90 elders at the Mother Theresa Home in Mattakkuliya. At our MJF Centre East, our team headed to the Mental Health Rehabilitation Centre in Mavadivembu to provide lunch and a day of fellowship with 42 patients.