Redding Commemorates the Great Kindness Challenge with 250+ Acts of Kindness

First Selectman Julia Pemberton will join students at Redding Elementary School this Friday to issue a proclamation designating Friday, January 27th, 2017 as Kindness Day in Redding. “It’s a culmination of a weeklong Great Kindness Challenge,” she said. The Great Kindness Challenge is an international effort empowering students to create a culture of kindness, with over 5 million participants, from over 8,000 schools, from over 60 countries, pledging over 250 million acts of kindness. “It’s been a wonderful thing to see and a reminder from our youngest citizens that it’s the little things that really matter, that these small every day acts of kindness can bind us together as a community and remind us who we are as people.”

Throughout the week students at Redding Elementary and John Read Middle Schools have been participating in the Great Kindness Challenge, performing acts of kindness and sharing them on handwritten stars to fill the skies over “Kindness Moves Mountains” bulletin boards that are displayed in the school lobbies. Residents have been sharing their own acts of kindness in Redding Town Hall. Our goal is 250 Acts of Kindness to celebrate Redding’s 250th year of incorporation.

At Redding Elementary School on Monday, students were welcomed on the Red Carpet of Kindness to kick off the weeklong program. Administrators, teachers and students, joined by First Selectman Julia Pemberton, dressed their best for this official Kindness Day Launch. Dr. Huber and Mr. Basta served coffee, tea, and hot chocolate to the teachers from their "Kindness Cart," and the students collected spare change that will be donated to build a school in Pakistan through the "Kind Coins for Pakistan" program, just to name a few highlights.

At John Read Middle School, Selectman Michael Thompson welcomed students. The student body celebrated the Great Kindness Challenge with presentations by the School Climate Committee outlining the challenge and upcoming spirit days. Spirit days included PJ day for Dream of Kindness Day and Crazy Sock Day for Crazy for Kindness Day. During lunch, the School Climate Committee gathered at a Kindness Station where kids could color, do craft projects and share treats. Acts of Kindness were posted as stars on the Kindness Moves Mountains bulletin board. These stars were also submitted in a raffle to win prizes. Every student at JRMS will receive a kind note in homeroom on Friday, January 27th in the morning. Also on Friday, students from JRMS Outreach, the School Climate Committee and other likeminded students will visit Ben’s Bells in Bethel to start cutting tiles for the “Be Kind Mural.”