Junior Optimists create
Week of Kindness W
ith less light and colder weather, winter can often leave people feeling sad and lonely. Junior Optimist International decided to combat the winter blues with a Week of Kindness. The Sand Creek High School JOI Club in Colorado, created the project that JOI adopted for its second quarter emphasizing kindness. Even though the project was initiated to run around Valentine’s Day, a Week of Kindness can be held at any time during the year. This would be an especially good program for the beginning of the school year. This project can` be modified for whatever your school and community needs, and actions adjusted for the specific age of the students involved. An easy way to get started is to pick out a week, and then come up with a different kindness-related action for each day of the week. Your JOI Members should lead the way in taking these actions while encouraging their school mates to do the same.
A typical week could look like this:
Monday — Talk to someone you don’t usually talk to. Tuesday — Give a compliment to someone. Wednesday — Leave notes of kindness around your school. Thursday — Share something of your own. Friday — Help someone out. Students at Scott Elementary in Colorado Springs, Colorado, participated in the Week of Kindness organized by Sand Creek JOI Club.
Be sure to give your fellow students a heads up by including your week of kindness in any school announcements or newsletters. This is also a good time to do a Club project. The Sand Creek JOI Club made posters with positive messages on them, and on a corner so that drivers could see the signs as they went by. Other ideas might include picking up litter. A Week of Kindness can make the world a warmer place, no matter what time of year it is!
Winter 2020 • 21
