Be kind

 

In her latest book, “The Light We Carry”. Michelle Obama has a chapter titled, “Starting Kind”, which is a reminder of the value of being kind.

This chapter reminded me of the mosaics that I have noticed attached to the wall of some of the schools that I have worked at, and they look like this:

 

 

I wasn’t sure of “rest of the story”, so I did some research.

https://bensbells.org/

Here’s the founder’s story:

In 2002, Jeannette Maré’s life changed forever when her son, Ben, died suddenly just before his third birthday.

 

 In the months following his death, Jeannette and her friends and family began making ceramic wind chimes – the first Ben’s Bells – in her backyard studio. Being surrounded by supportive people and working with clay toward a common goal was therapeutic for her family and their healing.

 

During this time, Jeannette learned how a small act of kindness could make such a difference in a person’s life, no matter their background. She wanted to find a way to teach others about the impact of intentional acts of kindness, and so the idea for the Bell came to life. Jeannette and her friends made four hundred Bells and randomly distributed them in the Tucson community on the first anniversary of Ben’s death.

 

Through these Bells, she had found a way to pay forward the kindnesses that had been shown to her.

 

This started a powerful ripple effect. People who found the Bells shared their own stories of grief and healing and hope. The local newspaper printed the story on the front page. School groups and businesses and individuals started calling to see how they could get involved and soon, thousands of Tucsonans were helping to craft Ben’s Bells.

 

Since 2003, Ben’s Bells has been operating as a nonprofit, growing kindness education programs and continuing to distribute thousands of Bells every year. Today Bells are found all over the world and our free kindness education programming has reached over 1.6 million students.

 In addition to the mosaics on walls of school buildings, Tucson United School District also offer a variety of products

Kind Stitches is a collaboration between Ben’s Bells and Tucson Unified School District’s (TUSD) Community Transition Programs.

 Through Kind Stitches programming, young adult students with disabilities are provided the opportunity to learn valuable vocational skills in retail work and apparel design while helping to reinforce the “be kind” message.

 Participating students are offered increased opportunities to engage the public in the form of customer service, taking orders, processing payments, and safely and efficiently operating an industrial embroidery machine in real-time work situations within the community. Through this collaboration, Kind Stitches provides Ben’s Bells with a sustainable revenue stream that supports their educational programming throughout the community.

 TUSD students embroider the Ben’s Bells “be kind” logo on a number of products including fanny packs, drawstring bags, tote bags, and hats. They also embroider custom text and the “be kind” logo on any personal items such as clothing, blankets, lunch bags, laptop bags, and more.

 Embroidered items are sold in-store at Shop Kind, Shop Kind online, TUSD’s Main Gate Collaborative Art Studio, and at pop up shops found at farmers markets, school events, and street fairs around Tucson.  Students process personalized orders, embroider on the spot, and have Ben’s Bells merchandise available for purchase at various events around town. Every item embroidered by Kind Stitches helps fund Ben’s Bells’ open art studios and kindness education programs, and furthers the mission to inspire intentional acts of kindness.

In addition to the murals on schools, the organization has also created mosaics on other community locations in both Arizona and Connecticut.

 https://www.kgun9.com/news/local-news/bens-bells-brings-i-am-tucson-mosaic-mural-back-to-downtown

Since even watching the news can be a stressful activity, it’s refreshing to know that a little kindness can make a huge difference in our lives – and Michelle Obama gives us many examples of that.