FAIR School Pilgrim Lane Students Find Joy in Kindness to Others
Students at FAIR School Pilgrim Lane in Plymouth were revved up for an on-campus party this Thursday — but it wasn’t the kind that comes with pizza and a goodie bag.
“I feel like everybody is excited for today,” said Heather O’Hara, PTO President at the school. “Events at school are always fun, because it’s kind of social too right, so kids get to see each other outside of school and be excited about each other.”
Hundreds of families poured into the school with plans to huddle over tables, cutting pieces of fleece and folding cardstock. These craft projects serve a larger purpose than meets the eye.
They’re here for the school’s first Kindness to Our Community event.
“The children have been talking about it for weeks,” said Principal Nancy Froelich. “They cannot wait.”
According to Froelich, the event was weeks in the making.
“So, we looked as a PTO and as a leadership team at the building, of how could we create an event where the students aren’t always getting something? And instead were helping our community?” she said.
Students at FAIR School Pilgrim Lane prepare snack packs to donate.
The result was a partnership with the nonprofit Doing Good Together, which connected the school with several other service organizations.
Students at the school spent their evening making tissue flowers for Shalom Homes, writing cards for children in the hospital, packing snack bags for hungry families, and weaving small blankets for the Animal Humane Society.
“I think they were really excited about having kindness within the school and being able to do different things that they may not have thought about with their friends,” said PTO Secretary Kristina Genadek
Students also packed stress balls with sand to donate to children in counseling, and bookbags to donate to the community.
“They’re just loving it — they love to give back,” Froelich said. “And I think that’s something that we sometimes miss.”
With a continued focus on kindness, Froelich says student have started changing their behavior.
“We see a lot more ‘thank yous,’ ‘pleases,’ we see children taking care of one another, children helping one another, not just within their classroom but across the school,” she said.
