Avonworth students start #bethekindkid trend

During the 2017-18 school district, an amazing thing occurred in the Avonworth School District. A group of students called JAM Enterprises, which is a group of about 54 girls from ages 5-12 that meets weekly to combine their creativity and compassion to come up with ideas to help others. Their ideas always result in a product that they can then sell and then give the proceeds to local non-profit causes and organizations. During one of their meetings, one of the younger girls spoke up and gave her heartfelt plea for the need for more kindness in the world. She simply said that she wished people could just be kind. Out of that moment, the #bethekindkid message was born. The girls came up with the hashtag and decided to put it on t-shirts to sell and donate proceeds to help cure cancer. At the time, no one could foresee how far the message would spread. First, staff and students started to purchase the t-shirts and wore them to school in an effort to spread the message of kindness. Eventually, the entire district staff started to wear the #bethekindkid shirts on Wednesdays. As the 2018-19 school year gets underway, the tradition of wearing the #bethekindkid shirt on Wednesdays will continue. To date, the group has sold well over 3,000 t-shirts with many districts in the area purchasing the shirts for their staff. Orders are now rolling in for hundreds of shirts. It is truly amazing to see how this message of kindness is spreading around the Pittsburgh region.