A friend and fellow teacher and I were talking, making plans after attending the Greater Good Summer Institute in Berkeley this summer. We both work in an inner-city elementary school, where needs are great and burnout is high.We wanted to try an experiment to see if we could begin a movement toward a more compassionate, kind community, and in the process, renew ourselves. This is how the Kindness Coalition was born. We submitted the idea to KindSpring, and won the monthly prize! In the two months that have passed, amazing things have taken root. We began by giving everyone on staff a personally grown, small potted plant, along with a kindness quote, and encouragement to pass it forward.
Since then, we buy small gifts and anonymously place them in mailboxes or workspaces, along with a quote and a tag from the Kindness Coalition. We keep track of people we've tagged, and always encourage them to pay it forward.
We now have a wonderful coffee station, being supplied by our local Starbucks and other spontaneous volunteers who bring treats and creamers and such. We have a Random Acts of Kindness board, very full of appreciative thank you notes, we have 4 official members, and we have lots of smiles! We've even let in a fifth grade class on the secret club and students are starting to make notes of appreciation and practice other random acts of kindness too - for staff and for other students. Thank you for helping us make our school a kinder, friendlier, and happier place.
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- Posted by Novice50
- Nov 15, 2014
- Comments (9)
Readers Comments
z_zhubi_i wrote: There's one place cannot be locked in our hearts, that place is called kindness.
leefae wrote: What a great story. What a great idea! It will surely turn the tide in the community to loving kindness. How could it not? Sending love and thanks to you for your good work xxx
learnwithlennon wrote: This is a great story! I'm a teacher too and looking for a way to improve the burnout situation among my co-workers. We have a big staff, so i am going to partner with some co-workers and try this out! Thank you for the wonderful idea.
sandyremillard wrote: Grand indeed how you are taking kindness in a big scale! Obviously divinely inspired. Keep it up! Posted your comments in fb for others to follow in schools. Thank you!
wavingatyou wrote: Spreading happy everywhere :)
mindyjourney wrote: The kindness coalition bears fruition :))). Thank you for encouraging kindness. Blessings.
DotMatrix wrote: Wow this is such a terrific story of kindness. Well done. May you be richly blessed.
sarah wrote: Oh. I wish your kindness seeds to grow into big big trees! Bless your hearts.
Joanna wrote: You truly have scattered joy & kindness!
