- Philip Thibodeau
- Jun 10
Kindness
is a muscle.
Work it out,
gotta hustle.
We kids will show you the way,
Gotta flex it
every day.
The cafeteria at Strong Elementary School echoed with these lyrics Tuesday afternoon as the entire student body, some 300 in number, performed a rousing rendition of Sprout’s ‘Kindness Is a Muscle’ before an audience of proud community leaders and teachers.
The occasion for the performance was the dedication of a bright blue KATE (“Kind Acts Touch Everyone”) bench in the play area behind the school, an event that marks the inauguration of a district-wide campaign to be intentional about practicing acts of kindness.
The original idea to bring KATE benches to Strong and, eventually, to all the schools in town was that of Paula Lopatosky, a member of Kind Works, and retired Strong School teacher Linda Bass Reilly. When they first pitched the plan to School Superintendent Steven Madancy, he immediately said yes, according to Reilly. He told them that their next step would be to brief all of the elementary school principals on it as well as members of the Board of Education. In March, Lopatosky and Reilly delivered a presentation to the Board – accompanied by home-made cookies, as an illustration of the point they were trying to make about the power of kindness – that was warmly received.
Funding for the benches, which cost about $1,450 each, has come from a variety of local service organizations. Along with Southington Rotary, whose leaders were present at Strong to witness the dedication, the Southington Elks, Kids of Summer, the Lions Club, Maxwell-Earl Family, the RJW Foundation, the Calvaneses Foundation, the Ryan J. White Foundation, and the Petit Family Foundation have all chipped in to cover the costs.
Lisa Rizzo, Executive Assistant to the Superintendent, also played a crucial role in coordinating the KATE bench project.
The benches are the work of an organization based in Richmond, Virginia, called Kindness4Kate. It was founded several years ago by Elizabeth Childrey after her daughter Kate, a dedicated schoolteacher, passed away suddenly at the age of 30. For Childrey, the project was a way to manage her grief over her daughter’s death and to continue to spread the kindness which Kate had always shown to her students while she was teaching.
The main lesson that the children at Strong received during the ceremony was about the real-world impact and importance of kindness. Representative Chris Poulos told the students a story about how, on his first day of kindergarten, his nervousness vanished when another boy in the class came up to him and said, “Let’s be friends.”
Representative Gale Mastrofrancesco and Senator Rob Sampson reaffirmed the message, telling the assembly that they always make a point to treat people the way that they would like to be treated.
At one point during the official speeches, Madancy put on a master class in getting students to settle down while being kind about it. When one of the visitors asked how many days they had until the end of the school year, the assembled children began to get overly excited. As the din rose, Madancy stepped up to the microphone and said, in a gentle voice, “So, if you can hear us, touch your ear.” The students reached for their ears. “And show us how quiet hands work.” The students quietly waved their hands. “Now let’s listen to their message.” Calm restored.
The last speeches that were made before the group sing-along were delivered by two student members of Strong’s Kindness Club. The first, Kenny, explained that “this was the very first year of our Kindness Club. We met once a month to learn more about kindness and find ways to help others in our school and community.” He then describe how they made cards for veterans, volunteered at Southington’s Bread for Life to make Thanksgiving pies, collected toys for patients at Yale’s Childrens Hospital, and crafted homemade cat toys for pets at the Meriden Humane Society.
The other club member, Eloise, listed further activities: writing thank you notes for teachers and staff, making Valentine Cards for the residents of Mulberry Gardens, and creating seed bags for the Southington Public Library. “Kindness is important because you never know what someone else may be going through,” she concluded. “A simple smile, a kind word, or a helping hand can brighten someone’s day.”
