Say Thank You While They Can Still Hear You

There is something deeply moving about watching someone receive recognition they have never sought. The hesitant smile. The glance towards family. The quiet disbelief that years of simply getting on with helping others have brought them here.

At Birmingham’s Thanksgiving 2026 celebration, those moments gave the evening its meaning. Thirty-three people were honoured before around 150 guests drawn from different faiths, cultures and backgrounds. Each carried a story of service. Together, they reminded us how much goodness can exist quietly within a city.

Organised by Karma PR, the celebration invited us to think about what makes a life generous. Wealth can provide opportunities to give, but generosity begins with something more personal: the willingness to notice another person’s need and accept some responsibility for easing it.

The people who keep showing up:

We all know someone who becomes the dependable person in a community. They answer the telephone, organise the collection, visit someone who is lonely or stay behind when everyone else has gone home. Gradually, their kindness becomes something others rely upon.

That reliability deserves our attention. Behind it may sit exhaustion, family responsibilities, financial worries or private grief. People who serve others have difficulties of their own. Their generosity often involves making room for someone else while carrying burdens we cannot see.

The organiser’s determination to honour such people felt especially meaningful. His message was tender and urgent: recognise people during their lifetimes. Let them experience the gratitude they have earned.

We are often eloquent when someone dies. We remember their patience, recount their kindness and wish we had thanked them properly. An evening like this asks us to bring those words forward, while there is still someone here to receive them.

Decades of care:

The awards recognised service that had touched lives in very different ways.

One recipient was honoured for more than half a century devoted to Gujarati language education, literature and cultural activities, helping younger generations maintain a connection with their heritage.

Anyone who has heard a grandparent struggle to share a story across a language gap will understand the importance of that work. Language carries affection, humour and belonging. Teaching it allows conversations to continue across generations.

Another award recognised charitable work providing dental care for homeless people. Such care can relieve pain and restore dignity to someone whose needs have too often been overlooked.

More than 47 years of dedicated service to patients at the same opticians was also celebrated. Across a working lifetime, familiar faces become relationships. Patients remember who reassured them, listened patiently and treated their concerns with respect.

Others were recognised for voluntary work, charitable activities and sustained commitment to community life. Among them were a 101-year-old recipient and a mother and daughter, a moving reminder that service can span both lifetimes and generations.

I wished the room would swallow me up as they announced my own award for supporting improvement, inclusion and colleagues at HMRC, alongside over 26 years of school governance and community service. Hearing it aloud was embarrassing, but deeply moving. I’ve simply tried to help people and give something back wherever possible.

Leadership close to home:

The former West Midlands Mayor’s reflections drew on seven years in office, including the challenges of the pandemic and periods of social tension. His appreciation for local leadership carried the weight of experience.

When uncertainty enters a neighbourhood, trust matters enormously. People turn towards those who understand their circumstances, speak honestly and have already proved dependable. Community leaders earn that confidence through countless encounters, often long before a crisis arrives.

He also acknowledged the loneliness that leadership can bring. Serving a community sometimes means making difficult decisions, disappointing people or standing by a principle when agreement would be easier. Integrity becomes the compass that helps someone continue.

His tribute to the organiser recognised the persistence required to bring people together. Goodwill messages from the Prime Minister, Home Secretary, high commissioners, civic figures and business leaders widened the circle of appreciation around the recipients.

The courage of a small contribution:

Another speaker drew on the Ramayan story of the squirrel to show how small contributions support something greater. A lift to an appointment, a reassuring conversation or a regular telephone call can make someone’s day easier.

Sharing his experience of a breakdown in 2022, he described learning to give without calculating what might come back. His honesty invited us to examine our own habits: do we offer kindness freely, or quietly expect something in return?

His message was simple and personal. Whatever our circumstances, we can help ease another person’s journey.

Taking the gratitude home:

Eventually, the applause ended and families went home. The work being celebrated would continue: another lesson, another visit, another person needing reassurance.

We can carry that evening into ordinary life by noticing such work, thanking people

specifically and offering practical help. Recognition becomes more meaningful when it lightens someone’s load.

Possessions will change hands. Titles will pass to others. But someone may carry the memory of our kindness for the rest of their life.

Who deserves to hear your thank you today?