“Kindness is Cool'' is the message being shared throughout Battle Ground Elementary School as students and staff celebrate National Kindness Day. Among the activities, two first grade classes packed meals for guests at the Lafayette Urban Ministry’s winter warming station.

In Beth Ditto’s class, students decorated the sacks with messages like “Have a great day” and “You are loved.” The students carefully packed each sack with a sandwich, fresh fruit and other goodies.

“The students loved it,” says Ditto. “We have learned about the traits of a good citizen and we agreed kindness is at the top of that list. We knew packing these lunches would be a positive way to show kindness and generosity towards our community.”

Across the hall, Jessica Baker’s class was also assembling the to-go bagged meals. 

Baker says students were excited to bring their donations knowing they were helping others: “Doing this activity brought up a lot of great questions from my students, and they were absolutely heartbroken to learn that others in our own community don't always have a meal or even a warm place to sleep. This allowed us to talk about places in our community like LUM (Lafayette Urban Ministry) and the warming station services there. By doing this activity, I'm hopeful that my students will continue to spread this kindness in their lives each day while also sharing with others the importance of helping and volunteering for organizations like LUM in our community. 

The two classes packed 90 meals that will be delivered to Lafayette Urban Ministry to distribute to those in need.