BLOOMFIELD — On this anniversary of Sandy Hook, love and kindness are winning the day at an Early Childhood school in Bloomfield.
Rebecca Murphy and Haley Ryan planted a seed of kindness in 2014 and since that day, ’Kindness Day’ has blossomed beyond the walls of the school.
For both Murphy and Ryan, kindness is personal.
“This became a day here because one of my very closest and very most loved friends was Victoria Soto,” said Rebecca.
A picture of Vicki is a permanent fixture in Rebecca’s classroom at the Wintonbury Early Childhood Magnet School in Bloomfield. It’s where on this day, their kindness came bursting from the walls and spilled outside; with chalk art showing kind expressions scrawled in the stone.
“Kindness is something that can literally and figuratively change the world,” said Rebecca. “Kindness can do anything,”
The day is much more than the posters and art that adorned the hallways.
“Today is a day where we’re just all giving each tiger hugs and saying I love you and I’m here for you — and it’s really beautiful,” said Haley.
Since 2014, Wintonbury’s Kindness Day has grown in size and scope.
“Everyone unanimously agreed that it was such a powerful and positive day here, that they wanted to do it every year,” explained Haley.
They deliver community care packages to police and firefighters — who visit the school to give kindness right back.
“When an authority figure takes that time to say to a child, your important and you matter — it brings it to another level,” said Haley.
But Kindness Day was built on a foundation of ‘little’ things.
“They might seem like very small, insignificant gestures, but it’s completely huge because one child sees another child do that, then another child does it – then another – and pretty soon they’ve all learned what kindness is,” explained Rebecca.
It might be zipping a friend’s coat, making a friendship bracelet or saying please and thank you.
“Together it will go around our school, our town and our world,” said Ryan.
Shepherding young lives to pay it forward — and remember — that love wins. “We’re trying to do that with the memory of those from Sandy Hook in our hearts,” remarked Haley.
Rebecca and Haley want to thank their kids, the parents, their co-workers, the community, friends and strangers who pitched it to spread those seeds of kindness.
