If everybody did just one act of kindness, the world would be a better place. That’s what’s behind a project that one local Girl Scout Troop has undertaken, looking to inspire over 1,000 acts of kindness here in Wilton. They’re hoping that everyone–including you–will take part.
Troop 50411, made up of 9- and 10-year-old Wilton girls in fourth grade, are working on their “Journey Project,” something that demonstrates the power they have to influence the community and make a difference. As a group they decided to collaborate on a project modeled on “Ben’s Bells,” an effort started by a family in Arizona to encourage intentional acts of kindness to honor the memory of their young son who had died.
The girls have put up a board in the children’s department at the Wilton Library. Green slips of paper are available there for people to write down the kindnesses they’ve performed for others, and those slips will be added as links to a paper chain. The catch is that the acts are supposed to be intentional.
“It’s meant to be something that you’ve thought about, that you go out of your way to do,” explains troop leader and parent Joanna Schubkegel. “It’s not just, ‘Oh, I held the door open,’ but more that, ‘I’m putting someone else’s needs before mine.’”
The girls want to collect and link 1,000 acts of kindness to demonstrate the power the community has to do something positive. They already have 209 slips in their chain after starting only two weeks ago.
Troop member Virginia Hastings sums up their appeal to anyone reading this: “Being kind make a really strong community. If we keep being kind the community grows. We want everyone in Wilton to do an act of kindness and to always be kind.”
Fiona Conway explained that they’re trying to lead by example. Each of the girls has already contributed more than one act of kindness themselves. “We all made slips first and put it on the chain. Now we’re hoping everybody else will do it,” she says.
Each of the girls shared their own acts of kindness.
Hannah Schubkegel: “I took out the garbage without my mother asking me.”
Virginia Hastings: “I did the laundry and folded it for my mom.”
Ella DeLuca: “I helped my Grandma walk on the ice.”
Kendall Nelson: “I helped my friend in school clean up at art.”
Annika Mannix: “I helped my mom walk the dog because she hurt her knee.”
Isabella Furman: “I helped my younger siblings with their homework.”
Olivia Flatt: “I helped my friend pick up her markers and crayons when they fell on the ground.”
Fiona Conway: “I cheered my brother up when he was sad.”
Kendall Nelson learned that being kind actually improves the health of the person performing the act of kindness. “My mom told me and I thought, ‘Wow, this is cool!’”
Ella Deluca agrees that, “Being kind makes your life better. You never want to be mean and it helps you make friends, and it’s a life thing.”
The girls say they’re going to hang the chain in the library and at school to inspire others to keep going, even once the project has been completed. For now, the board will be up as long as it takes to get the 1,000.