Small Acts. Big Change - Tools for Compassionate Living
Compassion Week 2025 Reflection
Compassion Week 2025 offered abundant nourishment through care, creativity, hope and connection. With twenty events and countless acts of kindness, our theme Small Acts. Big Change. Tools for Compassionate Living became a lived reality.
We are grateful for every person who joined us, whether by hosting, attending, volunteering, sharing, or simply carrying the spirit of compassion forward. Explore the Photo Gallery below and relive the joy, reflection, and community spirit of Compassion Week.
A Poem for Reflection
We were honored to welcome poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer as our special artistic guest for Compassion Week. Her evening presentation (in collaboration with Rev. Michael Gott, Kenneth Gayle and Gary Norian) at Unity of Houston's “Oh Honey… An Evening of Sweetness in Bitter Times,” was our network wide event and an intimate celebration of resilience and tenderness.
Her poem Think Small beautifully captures the essence of our theme—Small Acts. Big Change—and reflects the heartwarming results of our twenty events and the love and labor their presenters shared with us. We are grateful to Rosemerry for generously allowing us to share her poem in our Compassion Week reflection.
Think Small is from The Unfolding (Wildhouse Poetry, 2024). Used with permission of the author.
With Gratitude to Our Partners & Friends
Thank you to every partner organization and friend who helped bring Compassion Week 2025 to life. You contributed by hosting events, leading conversations, opening your spaces, sharing resources, and spreading the message that Small Acts. Big Change is a reality. Your generosity and special creativity shaped the heart of the week.
We SO appreciate you:
Lovescaping
Insight Meditation Houston
Marci Sharif
Unity of Houston
Dawn Mountain
Institute for Spirituality and Health
Grace Episcopal Church
Jung Center of Houston
Sarah Gish
Prana-EOL
IM Houston
The Houston Baha’i Community
Covenant Church Houston
Houston Zen Center
NAMI Greater Houston
Tagore Society of Houston
Ismaili Council for the Southwestern USA
Power of Compassion
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
Offices of Houston City Council Members Sallie Alcorn and Julian Ramirez
Appreciation for the City
A special thank-you to the City of Houston for its official Compassion Week proclamation, affirming that compassion isn’t only a personal value—it’s a shared commitment that strengthens community.
Council member Julian Ramirez presenting the Proclamation to board chair, Pam Lewis, PhD on Tuesday, November 11, 2025.
Celebrating What We Created Together
Compassion Week may have ended, but its impact continues—one small act at a time. We are deeply grateful to all who joined and contributed, making our theme a lived reality with:
Dozens of events - Hundreds of participants
New collaborations sparked
Ideas that have already spread compassion’s ripples further
Quiet, meaningful acts of care
Thank you to our Committees & Volunteers
Behind the scenes, our board and committees poured their creativity, vision, and countless hours into shaping Compassion Week. Their steady guidance and dedication made each program possible.
And to our volunteers—thank you for showing up with open hearts and willing hands. From welcoming guests to serving food, tidying spaces, and supporting events, you embodied compassion in action. We truly could not have done it without you.
Thank you for walking this path of compassion with us—let’s continue building it, one act at a time.
Photo Gallery
Enjoy a sampling of photos radiating the joy and connection of Compassion Week, with countless other moments cherished in memory.
Welcome to Compassion Week 2025 - Celebrating 10 years!
This year marks a special milestone—our 10th anniversary of coming together for a full week of inspiration, knowledge-sharing, dialogue, collaborations, and hands-on activities. What began as a simple idea has grown into a vibrant tradition, connecting hearts across Greater Houston by showcasing and sharing tangible examples of Houston’s compassionate culture through various partner and network offerings.
Compassion Week 2025 NOVEMBER 10-16
Save the date for Compassion Week 2025 and it’s core message of SMALL ACTS. BIG CHANGE, highlighting the aspiration that each of us can be a force for good. Our small actions rooted in care and love ripple outward to transform the world, starting right where and how we are. Our theme invites us to explore how everyday gestures—rooted in care, courage, and connection—can spark powerful transformation, rippling outward to create lasting change. And it begins with us, right here, right now.
Whether through learning, practice, service, storytelling, or other types of shared moments, Compassion Week 2025 celebrates the tools we each carry to build a more compassionate world, one act at a time.
PURPOSE OF WORLD KINDNESS DAY
Compassion Week coincides regularly with the week in which World Kindness Day falls, a global day, introduced in 1998 by the World Kindness Movement, that promotes the importance of being kind to each other, to yourself, and to the world.
The purpose of this day, celebrated on November 13 of each year, is to help everyone understand that compassion for others is what binds us all together.
