For K-KIDS in Oregon, spreading positivity is serious business.
By K-KIDS AUDREY THACKERAY AND ARYA RIOGEIST, MABEL RUSH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, NEWBERG, OREGON
A while ago, a boy in Georgia named Blake created a T-shirt to show his kindness toward others. To let everyone know that he was open to new friendships and always would be, the T-shirt simply said, “I will be your friend.” And the message spread.
Soon, a committee formed to spread this kindness by making more T-shirts that said, “I will be your friend.” Now the committee has grown, and people have started wearing these T-shirts all over the world. The K-Kids at Mabel Rush Elementary School in Newberg, Oregon, have joined in wearing these T-shirts every Wednesday at school. It represents who we are and who we try to be every day. Every single K-Kid cares about friendless people, and we try to help them out in every way we can.
Every Wednesday, we get together to change the world and our community. Some of the activities that take place in our meetings are making handmade compliment strips that are passed around the school, back and forth from person to person. They are wrinkled by the hands of many people and are kept in linty pockets for kids to pull out on self-doubting days. They cheer kids up, because they know that someone believes in them.
We make posters to encourage people to share kindness with others. We also help spread kindness through the Box of Kindness. The kids at school can write about a person that they have spotted being kind. The slip will ask for the person’s name, their teacher’s name and what they were spotted doing. Every Wednesday, we draw from that box, and the person whose name we draw receives a prize. People who have been mentioned through the box will receive the strip so they are reminded of their good deed and what people have seen in them.
We also write cards to retirement homes for different holidays, including Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Thanksgiving and many others. We hang hand-colored papers about the key to kindness and other kinds of encouragements and positive statements.
Organization is important, so our leader, Mrs. Neiss, makes jobs for us. Some of these jobs include our treasurer, president, vice president, secretary and surgeon (sergeant) of arms. As you can see, all of our friends in K-Kids have an impulse to spread kindness.
We make sure that we are kind. We always try to be gratifying. We are who we are and who we would like to be. We are the kindness of the world. And that’s how we will stay.
This story originally appeared in the August 2020 issue of Kiwanis magazine.
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