Passing Kindness On, One Act at a Time
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WHAT WE'VE BEEN UP TO - 2007
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On January 18, we took our Kindness Gift-Giving Program to CommonUnity, a residential community for homeless young parents and their children. The children enjoyed receiving their kindness gift packages and books, along with chocolate chip cookies baked by Carol Lindemann and potato chips donated by Poore Bros. One girl, whose mom told her not to open her gift until she got home, remarked, "I can't wait to get home!" It was a special treat for our volunteers to be able to stay and play with these adorable children while their mom's were next door in a life skills class.
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| A Happy Threesome |
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The Shyann Kindness Project's "Spread a Little Kindness" Party on January 28 at Z Mansion was a big success! Approximately 110 children from foster group homes attended the pizza party and enjoyed the clowns, face painters, craft activities, games with prizes, and music. The children went into the carriage house when their age group was called and picked out their kindness gift package and books. There were 14 different raffle items for them to enter by putting their name in the buckets. A little girl who insisted she was going to win a musical guitar and a little boy who told them he was definitely winning the 30" Superman doll, amused our volunteers. They were surprised when, although those were two of the most popular raffle items with many names in both buckets, the little girl's name was picked for the guitar and the little boy's name was picked for Superman!!
Our very special thanks to all those who made this event possible:
- The Hill Family, owners of Z Mansion, for donating the use of their beautiful home as well as "volunteer duties."
- Ute Gascho of Magpies Gourmet Pizza for donating the pizza
- Sally Hollis and Entenmann's Bakery Outlet for providing desserts
- Kathleen Dreier of Esens Photography for the wonderful pictures
- Christian Lawton, Tasha Lawton and Jane Peterson for their beautiful face painting
- M.T. Pockets the Clown, Dee Dee the Clown and 2-EEE the Clown for their great entertainment
- Johnny Linebarger of A & A DJ Services for providing the music
- Amelia of All Party Solutions for the festive decorations
- All of our wonderful volunteers who made it a special day for the children
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| Mmm Mmm Good! |
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| Nice Face Painting! |
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| Playing to Win |
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On February 3, we brought our kindness gift-giving program to the birthday celebration of the Children's Peace Garden at Manuel Herrera Park. Under the guidance of Beki Quintero, the garden is the creation of the neighborhood children, who proudly showed us the vegetables they were growing as well as the butterfly and hummingbird areas. Once we started setting everything up, it was hard for the children to wait until we were finished! The kindness gift packages, books, snacks and "free raffles" were a big hit, and there were many excited children with big smiles on their faces!! Yolanda Herrera, President of the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association, commented that these children aren't used to people caring about and doing things for them, and that some of the children didn't have a Christmas. It was a fun and heartwarming experience for all our volunteers.
Our next event was at a Salvation Army after school program on February 15. As the kindness gift-giving program was being explained, the children sat quietly listening. When it was their turn to suggest ways of being kind to others, some of them had quite a few detailed suggestions! It was unfortunate that many of the children who usually attend the after school program were out sick, but the children who were there didn't seem to mind as they were able to come back to the tables and get more books and snacks after everyone had made their selections. As we left, "thank you" was heard repeatedly from the children as they very happily read their books and played with their new toys!
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| Group at the Children's Peace Garden |
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| One of the Many Smiling Faces |
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A group of 6th and 7th graders from Lauffer Middle School were the first to participate in the Shyann's Helping Hands Program. After they completed the toy and book drive, arrangements were made for the students to assemble the kindness gift packages at their school. On March 2, the students went to the Community Food Bank Kid's Club after school program at Quincie Douglas Center to take part in the kindness gift-giving program. They all did a great job taking charge of the raffle items, kindness gift packages, books, backpacks, snacks and comic books that were offered. Special thanks to Jennifer Lowry for organizing the student activities, and to Miguel Constantino, Shandi Gonzalez, Sara Kaiser, Kayla Machiche, Deanna Mann, Berenice Noriega, Alin Rascon, Juan Romano, Valeria Romero, Teresa Ryan, Diana Santa Cruz, Britney Smith, Gladys Valencia and Paulina Vasquez for their participation. For more information about this program, please visit the Shyann's Helping Hands page.
Thanks to the generous donations of books The Shyann Kindness Project has received, the children are now able to choose several books at each event. It gave us warm feelings when a young boy told us, "I didn't have any books to use for my book reports, now I do," as well as hearing, "Thank you. I'm having a good time!" from a young girl.
The 67 children that attended the Community Food Bank Kid's Club after school program at Archer Center on March 14, were very anxious for us to begin our kindness gift-giving program! They had a lot of great ideas of how to spread kindness, and our volunteers were touched to hear one boy remark to us, "you're all kind." After the children gratefully received their kindness gift packages, books and snacks, they looked forward to the winners being picked for the 11 raffle items. When a little girl's name was called for the stuffed bunny, she jumped up excitedly and gave it a big hug as it was handed to her. One boy, who had previously remarked to one of our volunteers, "It's okay if I don't win anything, I'm happy with what I already got," was the winner of an electronic keyboard! Although we heard "thank you" many times while we were there, the smiles on the faces and the hugs from the children were enough for us to know they appreciated the kindness we passed on that day.
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| Quincie Douglas Kid's Club |
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| Anxiously Waiting at Archer Center |
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| A Very Happy Raffle Winner |
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April was a busy month for The Shyann Kindness Project!
Kindness gift packages and books were brought to the Southern Arizona Center Against Sexual Assault on April 2, to be given to the children who are brought to the hospital after reported sexual abuse.
We partnered with the ACHIEVE Mentoring Program at Nash Elementary School on April 10. The mentors for this after school program provide one-on-one support, guidance and academic help to students in an area where 90% of the children qualify for free food. The students who attended the kindness gift-giving program came in looking very serious and definitely in need of a reason to smile! The generous donations we receive enabled us to offer these children kindness gift packages, books, snacks, socks and backpacks, along with the raffle items that were very happily won. The children were very grateful for what they received as our way of passing on kindness to them, and had their own ideas of how they would be passing on kindness to others. By the end of our program, even our young volunteers remarked how good it made them feel to see the smiles that were now on all the children's faces!
The Shyann Kindness Project volunteers were warmly welcomed as they took part in the Family Day celebration at TROT (Therapeutic Riding of Tucson) on April 21. Hippotherapy (horseback riding therapy for people with special needs) had been an important and sometimes challenging part of Shyann's therapies, and TROT remains close to our hearts. In her announcements, Leslie Esselburn, Executive Director of TROT, expressed appreciation and gratitude for the presence of The Shyann Kindness Project as she still considers Shyann part of the TROT family. The children and parents who attended this fun day were very pleasantly surprised to find our volunteers giving out kindness gift packages and books as a way of passing on kindness.
Shyann's birthday was celebrated on April 23 by bringing the kindness gift-giving progam to Gospel Rescue Mission's Women and Children's Shelter. It was very hard for the children to wait for us to get everything set up as they watched everything being brought in! Along with the kindness gift packages, books, and backpacks, we were also able to offer socks, insulated lunch bags, snacks and drinks that had been donated. We also brought a toddler basketball set for the outside play area, and were told by one of the mom's that just the day before, one of the staff members had made the comment that she wished they had one for the children to play with!
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| Trying to Decide at Nash Elementary |
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| TROT Family Day |
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| Some of the Gospel Rescue Mission Recipients |
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TSKP visited Tucson Center for Women & Children, an organization that provides services for victims of domestic violence, on May 24. Some of the children came from the shelter and spent their time at the kindness gift-giving program while their mom's were at their support group meeting. As one boy came into the room and saw everything, he excitedly exclaimed, "This is our lucky day!" He later commented that "Now I have something to play with." We all found it amusing when a 3-year old boy stuffed so much into his new backpack that he almost fell backwards after putting it on his back! Kindness gift packages were left to be given out to the children at the shelter who were not able to attend that night.
On May 29, a group of children attending the Life In Christ Community Church Homeless Feeding Program were pleasantly surprised and excited to receive toys from one of our volunteers who was there helping out. They liked the idea of using the kindness cards, and our volunteer was told shortly afterwards by one of the boys that he had already used his kindness card by offering to clear someone's plate for them.
The Shyann Kindness Project once again visited St. Andrew's Clinica for Children with Special Needs on June 7. This year, Tucson Starbucks partnered with TSKP and provided coffee, iced tea and pastries, as well as helping with our Kindness Gift-Giving Program. The very anxious children lined up to come into the Prayer Garden area to receive their toys, books, backpacks and snacks, and sometimes found it very difficult to wait their turn!
As so often happens, several of our volunteers were touched by the reaction of the children receiving these gifts so unexpectedly. When a boy who is blind was given a vibrating texture ball, his face lit up as the string was pulled and the ball began to vibrate. After being offered something additional, he replied, "No, this is fine." Another volunteer was touched by a little girl who was crying hysterically as she was getting an IV infusion. As her treatment was being finished up, our volunteer walked over and gave the little girl three items she had picked out for her. She was so thrilled and surprised to be receiving all three things that it took her mind off the IV treatment! Sometimes it takes so little to put a big smile on the face of a child who is hurting!!
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| His Lucky Day! |
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| Choosing a Stuffed Animal |
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| Anxiously Awaiting Their Turn |
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Our next event was held on June 28 at Sopori School in Amado, where the Community Food Bank runs a summer lunch program for the children in this rural community. After receiving their kindness gift packages, several children excitedly showed us what they had gotten. We also had plenty of books to offer the children, along with backpacks and donated videos, socks and snacks. One girl told us she was taking books for her cousins as a way of being kind to them. When it was time for the free raffles, we all chuckled as a little boy won the stuffed bear that was bigger than he was!
On July 18, volunteers took shifts from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. at Children's Clinics for Rehabilitative Services (CCRS). This clinic for children with special needs remains close to our hearts, as it was a "second home" to Shyann. The idea of simply wanting to pass on kindness with no strings attached took many people by surprise, and it was sometimes difficult to get them to come into the room where TSKP was set up! One of our volunteers that day, who is also a Shyann's Mentor, began mentoring on the spot to a parent who was having difficulty dealing with a specific issue. The spirit of the children dealing with illness or disabilities was inspiring to our volunteers as they helped them pick out just the right items. It was also gratifying to see children leave with smiles on their faces after having come in with a look of apprehension about their appointment that day.
Swetlands Community Center in Sahuarita was the sight of our next kindness gift-giving event on July 25. When we arrived and began unloading, one of the community center youth volunteers helping us couldn't get over the fact that we were bringing all of this for them for no reason! After the interactive talk about spreading kindness was finished, the children were still coming up with ideas of how to pass on kindness, and hands kept going up even as they were being told about how we would be passing on kindness to them!! The "free raffle" items were very popular, with many names in each can and very happy winners. As they picked out their kindness gift packages, books and other items, the floor quickly became filled with happy children playing with their new toys and eating their snacks.
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| Now That's a Big Teddy Bear! |
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| Happy Sisters at CCRS |
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| Tough Decision! |
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The Shyann Kindness Project once again benefited from our wonderful partnership with Starbucks Coffee Company as the Tucson stores collected backpacks and school supplies during the month of July. On August 8, Starbucks and TSKP volunteers gathered together and stuffed over 200 backpacks with school supplies! We are very grateful to Elayne Canterbury of Starbucks for coming up with this great idea, to all the Starbucks stores, and to everyone who donated school supplies during this drive.
Despite the dark clouds, the rain held off as children from the Sunnyside Unified School District came to the Peace Garden at Manuel Herrera Park on August 11 to receive backpacks. Insulated lunch bags that had been donated were offered to those children who already had backpacks, and there were extra school supplies available for those who needed them. A large selection of books were available for the children to choose from, with 365 books being given out. A currently unemployed single mother of six children was very happy to receive the backpacks and other items her children received that day.
Along with the backpacks, lunch bags and books, the party atmosphere also included face painting, snacks, desserts donated by Entenmann's Bakery Outlet, drinks, "free" raffles of toys, and a fire engine visit from the Tucson Fire Department. We are very grateful to all our wonderful volunteers and everyone who helped make this event such a success!
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| Stuffing the Backpacks |
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| Backpack Night |
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| Checking Out the Fire Engine |
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Our second "Spread a Little Kindness" party was held on August 25 at Life in Christ Community Church. When we arrived, we received kindness from three children who had come early and quickly offered to help set everything up. One of the girls enjoyed helping so much, she was torn between being one of our volunteers or enjoying the party! The children from the neighborhood came and enjoyed pizza, desserts, snacks and face painting before we started our Kindness Gift-Giving Program. We had backpacks and lunch bags for them to choose from in addition to the kindness gift packages, books and other miscellaneous items they received. The 16 "free raffle" items offered included a new girls bike and helmet as well as a new tricycle. Everyone had a great time, including our volunteers!
Kindness gift packages were taken to Child Protective Services on September 13, to be given out to the children they see who are in need of a reason to smile.
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| What She Wanted to Win! |
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| What a Great Smile! |
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Volunteers took shifts from 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. at Tucson Medical Center and handed out gift packages and books to the children who came into the Children’s Emergency Center on September 22. Our first volunteer was greeted by "It must be Shyann day again" from one of the nurses who recognized him from last time. During the slow times (always a good thing in a children's emergency center), our volunteers enjoyed entertaining siblings by reading to them and playing games with them. After being told about The Shyann Kindness Project, a mom who brought one of her children in that day is now taking advantage of Shyann’s Mentors. One of the nurses brought over two children and asked our volunteers if they could stay there with them. They had been waiting by themselves in the hospital after their mom was injured in a car accident. The children received kindness gift packages and were kept occupied by our volunteers until a family member came to get them.
The children at Casa de los Niños, a shelter for abused and neglected children, were the recipients of the Kindness Gift-Giving Program on October 20. Before our program began, the children were read a story and then colored pages that focused on being kind. Both activities were planned by the Casa de los Niños staff as an introduction about kindness. During this time, TSKP volunteers saw the need to help feed and entertain the younger children, and quickly jumped in to help! The hearts of our volunteers were touched, and the children were very thankful for what they received and the attention shown them.
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| Coloring With Her New Teddy Bear |
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| Passing the Time Reading at TMC |
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Big eyes were seen and sounds of delight heard when the children at the Cherry Ave. Recreation Center entered the room on October 29 and saw everything that was waiting for them! They listened quietly to the discussion of acceptance and kindness and then shared their own ideas of how to be kind, as well as what some of them were already doing. A small group of girls showed kindness that day by choosing to let others go ahead of them to get their gift packages and other items. Books were very popular, and the children were excited to be able to take as many as they wanted thanks to the generous donations we've received.
The BIG (Believers in God) Youth Group from Our Mother of Sorrows Church completed the Shyann's Helping Hands Program on November 10 by volunteering with The Shyann Kindness Project at Gospel Rescue Mission's Saturday Morning Kid's Club. During the month of October, the BIG Youth Group collected toys and books and then had fun assembling the kindness gift packages. The children who attended the Kid's Club were happy recipients of everything they did!
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| Cherry Ave. Group Waiting Patiently |
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| Gospel Rescue Mission Kid's Club |
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Once again, we brought the Kindness Gift Giving Program to the Salvation Army Thanksgiving Program on November 22. After enjoying their Thanksgiving dinner, the children visited our tables and picked out kindness gift packages, books, backpacks and snacks. Although the large selection of gift packages sometimes made it difficult for the children to decide, they all walked away very happy with their choices!
Our visit to El Rio Community Health Clinic on December 3 brought smiles to the faces of many children! Due to the large number of children seen at this clinic, we decided to let the children "go shopping" and pick out three toys from the large selection we had, along with books, backpacks, toothbrushes and other miscellaneous items. A big hit with all the children were the stuffed bunnies with chocolate eggs that had been donated by the Community Food Bank. This was a perfect day for The Shyann Kindness Project to be at El Rio since it was "Shot Clinic Day" and many children were not very happy after receiving 5 shots! They were certainly children "in need of a reason to smile!!"
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| Getting Help Picking Out Books on Thanksgiving |
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| Smiling Faces at El Rio |
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In partnership with Starbucks and the Sunnyside School District, The Shyann Kindness Project hosted a "Spread A Little Kindness" Christmas party for 200 children who were classified as homeless or very needy on December 21 at Sunnyside High School. The families enjoyed pizza, desserts, holiday music, face painting, coloring activities, story telling and even a visit from Santa! Along with their "extra special" kindness gift packages, the children also received books, backpacks, school supplies, clothing, toiletry packages and other miscellaneous items. The 35 "free raffle" items offered included store gift cards, inline skates, a 7' pre-lit Christmas tree, a skate board, a Harry Potter watch and a large makeup kit as some of the items the children were very excited to choose from! To see pictures from this event, visit the Special Events page.
Our Christmas Eve tradition continued as our volunteers took shifts from 10:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. at Tucson Medical Center's Children's Emergency Center. All the children who came into the Emergency Center during that time received a kindness gift package and book, including the siblings. The mother of one little girl, who was brought in because she hadn't taken any fluids for 36 hours, was thrilled when her daughter perked up after receiving her kindness gift package and then asked for her bottle as her book was being read to her! The hearts of our volunteers were warmed as they watched the children coloring, playing games and reading books instead of worrying about their hospital visit or their brothers and sisters during the sometimes very long wait. Kindness gift packages were left behind to be given to children coming in on Christmas Day.
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| Taking Care of His Sister |
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| She Didn't Come In Smiling! |
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