Schools across Orange County are getting to ready participate in the Great Kindness Challenge, which kicks off Monday, Jan. 23.
Created by the nonprofit group Kids for Peace, and endorsed by state Superintendent Tony Thurmond, the Great Kindness Challenge is a national program dedicated to recording as many acts of kindness as possible in a single week — typically the last full week of January. This year’s theme is “Grow Kindness.”
Last year, more than 18 million students from nearly 36,500 schools participated in the celebration of goodwill, contributing about 921 kind acts.
Campuses seeking to participate this year are encouraged to register and download a checklist and toolkit. Additionally, schools and county offices can become “Kindness Certified” by taking a few extra steps.
OCDE also has its own One Billion Acts of Kindness campaign, which was created to promote character, improve school climates and amplify civility all year long. You can add to the running total anytime at kindness1billion.org.
As a matter of fact, a quick Google search reveals quite a few kindness campaigns — and the more the merrier, as far as we’re concerned.
If your school or class is already a regular contributor to the One Billion Acts of Kindness initiative, we’d encourage you to learn more about the Great Kindness Challenge by visiting www.greatkindnesschallengetools.org and downloading their official checklist and toolkit. And if you’re checking off kind acts for this week’s Great Kindness Challenge, we hope you’ll add them to OCDE’s running total.
No matter what sparks kindness, or how it’s counted, each act of compassion help makes the world a little better.
Don’t forget to log your kind acts on the kindness1billion.org website, or download our free app for iOS and Android devices. For more on kindness, check out these stories we’ve shared on the OCDE Newsroom, including the “Exploring Kindness” episode of The Deeper Learning Podcast, hosted by Orange County Superintendent Dr. Al Mijares.