Spreading Kindness Worldwide

In Lower School this year, kindness has been running rampant. From the grade 5 Kindness Crew, a Kindergarten student giving back to the School, and the entire division building empathy, to celebrating Random Acts of Kindness Day and honoring each other’s unique identities, these students are showing the community that we are truly better together. 

From Columbia to Poland and Ukraine the impact of the acts of kindness demonstrated by lower school students can be felt across the globe.

Beginning in the new year and spanning the last few months, Lily Catano’s Kindergarten and grade 1 Spanish class participated in a project called “Bringing Happiness.” Through this project, they connected with children their age in an orphanage in Medellín, Columbia, showing them kindness from afar. 

Mount Vernon students created and designed colorful bracelets with the hope of spreading kindness. Each different colored beaded bracelet represented a Spanish word – sé tú, amigos, fé, amor, paz. Lily mailed a package filled with the bracelets, notes, and lots of love to the orphanage. 

Upon receiving the package, the teachers at the orphanage sent a return thank you video and photos so the Mount Vernon students could see their excitement and smiles upon receiving their gifts. Our Mustangs were eager to identify the bracelets they created and watch each little boy or girl put it on. 

Lily couldn’t tell whose smiles were bigger – those who received the gifts or those who gave. At Mount Vernon, we are continuously grateful for the teachers who set the conditions for our students to learn to spread kindness and love others. 

Last week, the grade five kindness crew joined together with executives from Cox Cable for an impactful service opportunity organizing supplies for the Kyiv Regional Orphanage in Poland. The primary effort was to provide material assistance to help take care of the most vulnerable refugees, 84 orphans; most 1 to 36 months, and up to 6 years old, and 34 displaced caregiver children. 

The day started with a chapel message on being faithful friends. 

The students prayed for the Kindness Crew during chapel as we shared they were going to be faithful friends to people they had never met through service.

The students and executives filled 36 backpacks for an orphanage in Ukraine that has been relocated to Poland. The backpacks included school supplies, games, notes of encouragement, and polaroid pictures of the team.

The executives stated our students helped them build empathy, get creative, and get in touch with their inner child. They ended the experiences with team building activities and a round of applause for our Mustangs!