I started the kindness group in 2001. It has had several names over the years, but always the same purpose. The purpose of this group is to teach kids empathy and to treat others with inclusivity. I want the kids to know that they can make a difference at any age. The students learn about local and World current events in my classroom, so in our kindness group, we discuss ways to help others.   

The first group we researched and helped was the Lost Boys and Lost Girls of Sudan. These children were given this nickname due to their parents being killed by the Sudanese Islamic government because they were Christian.

 I learned that after their parents were targeted, they had to walk over 1000 miles to get to safety at the nearest refugee camp that would take them in, which was Kakuma in Kenya. We were blessed to have many Christian Lost Boys and Lost Girls refugees visit my classroom over the past few decades. When they first visited in 2001, they attended Grand Haven High School, and when they last visited in 2019, they were adults with families. 

We helped provide clean water for the people of Flint due to their contaminated city water. We also helped students and families in need in Grand Haven and Spring Lake with various needs.  I have worked with Seeds to Sew, a non-profit organization that is located in New Jersey and in Nairobi, Kenya, for many years. The organization has women making items to sell to help their daughters go to school. In Africa, like many other areas of the world, if families have enough money to send their children to school, they typically send their sons before their daughters. This is true in Nairobi, Kenya. 

Seeds to Sew teaches women the importance of attaining an education, and therefore, many moms make items to sell to help their daughters gain an education that they themselves never received.  I contacted Seeds to Sew in the summer of 2025 and asked for a 7th-grade girl who wanted an education but could not afford to pay for it. I was told it would take a few months to make the items to sell to help Lucy. We were very lucky to find out that the mothers in Nairobi, Kenya making the items to sell, decided to donate them to Lucy because she was an orphan. Therefore, 100% of the money raised from selling these items will go to Lucy. 

The Kindness Club set up the sale for early December and raised $3,684.00, enough money to send Lucy back to 7th grade and continue through high school. The money our students raised is enough to help her go to school for six years and graduate. It also provides Lucy with housing, uniforms, and food.  Many people worked on pricing the items and organizing the sale, including my own daughter, Avery, now a senior at SLHS. 

 

Every Kindness Club member contributed to the sale in some capacity. Kindness Club member Addison Dean shared that she created some posters on Canva to spread the word about the sale to hang up in the middle school. She also helped organize items, counted money, and passed out the Seeds for Sow cards. While Jude Wagenmaker said he helped students while they shopped, and that he also bought Christmas gifts for his family from the sale.

.  I am very proud of the SLMS Kindness group this year. They are a great group of kids and are hard-working, empathic, and kind!