Chardon High School students and staff have designated February as Hilltopper Kindness Month. Join them as they continue their mission to Actively Care 4 People (AC4P) in their school, community, and the world through simple intentional acts of kindness. They continue this journey in memory of Danny, Russell, and Demetrius and to honor all of the people who continue to help them build a more caring and kind world.
Chardon High School joins Think Kindness as they impact many through Kindness.
On Thursday, February 6, 2014, Chardon High School hosted a Kindness assembly with Brian Williams, youth motivational speaker and founder of the non-profit organization Think Kindness. Williams challenged the students to ‘15 Days of Kindness,’ putting the students of Chardon in friendly competition with thousands of students across the nation to see who can make the biggest difference, not just within their community, but around the world.
Think Kindness, a non-profit organization based out of Reno, Nevada that inspires youth to change the world through seemingly simple acts of Kindness, realizes that in order to inspire youth, they need to make the campaign different, unique, and massive. “We launch each challenge with a humorous and inspirational speech and, at the end, we give the student body a challenge that will literally impact thousands of lives around the world…without spending a dime,” says Williams.
Chardon High School has stepped up for the 15 Days of Kindness Challenge. The students will be on a mission to impact those in their day to day life using kindness, then empowered further to impact children, just like themselves, in their community and all around the world. They will do this by collecting as many pairs of gently used shoes as possible from their community. All of the shoes received will go to needy families within the local area and also sent to orphans around the world.
Joan Blackburn, a counselor at CHS says, “We wanted to host a Think Kindness challenge in order to spark a kindness movement in our school during this time of healing. Chardon’s students and staff have been through a lot over the past few years and we want to focus on healing. What better way to heal than to empower our students and community to be kind? We are passionate about our 15 Day Challenge, and we cannot wait to see an explosion of kindness within our school, community, and the world!”
According to Williams, there are over 300 million children in the world that can’t afford a pair of shoes. This becomes a shocking figure when compared to the 2.4 billion new shoes Americans purchase every year, with the old shoes either collecting dust in a closet or filling up a landfill. “We hope to re-purpose gently used shoes and find them a new home on the feet of someone in need. To those, it’s not just a pair of shoes, but the gift of hope for a brighter future,” says Williams.
Though the challenge of collecting shoes and the chance to win the name of “Kindness School in America” is what kick starts the student excitement, the goal is to inspire and cultivate kindness.
CHS Principal Andy Fetchik says,“I am so proud of our student’s willingness to take on this challenge. With their input and leadership, I cannot think of a better way to honor the memories of Danny, Russell, and Demetrius than by giving other children around the world the opportunities that we have in Chardon.”
For additional information: Contact CLSD Communications Director Ellen Ondrey at 440-285-4052 or CHS Counselor Joan Blackburn at 216-701- 4116
Shoe donations are being accepted February 5 – 20 at Chardon High School, Chardon Library, and Chardon area churches.
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