Catching Kindness this Week
“Kindness is a language the blind can see and the deaf can hear.” – Mark Twain
Ashley Crandall is a very kind person. She treats people with respect and finds that life is generally better when people are kind towards one another. She values kindness so much, that she founded the Catching Kindness Project.
Ashley believes in treating people as you want to be treated. With an Associates degree from Holmes Community College and a Bachelors Degree in Early Childhood Education from Mississippi College, she spends much of her time with children. In addition to being a full-time kindergarten teacher’s assistant, she teaches children taekwondo. She is also the assistant sponsor of the dance team and assists with Sunday school at her church. She believes in the notion that kindness is free and tries to be the best role model on kindness to all the children who look up to her. When she sees someone being kind to another, Ashley gives them a blue rubber bracelet to signify they’ve done a good thing.
November 13 is World Kindness Day. It’s like Christmas for Ashley, who spreads her message about kindness in many different ways. In anticipation of World Kindness Day Ashley wrote a blog post on “random ways to be kind at work.” Another post on the blog is a list of “30 days of kindness challenges.”
Kindness is something that Ashley believes in and works hard on promoting. “There would be no bullying if people would just be kind to one another,” she says, with a broad smile on her face.
The project started earlier this year and has caught on locally, endorsed by schools as well as the City of Madison. Kids recognize the bright blue wrist bands and work to get more than one. Ashley founded the project with Louisiana native Evangeline Stephenson. Lacey Higgins is the co-founder, and new to their Catching Kindness team is Maci Matthews. All are involved with the Catching Kindness Project, each taking turns writing blog posts and posting on the project’s Facebook page.
Now the Catching Kindness Program is going nationwide, thanks to their Kindness Ambassador Program. Those interested in becoming a Kindness Ambassador can fill out an application on the Catching Kindness Program blog site. The job of each Ambassador is to carry Catching Kindness bracelets (or other Catching Kindness products, such as stickers) around to hand out when they see people being kind. Then they’ll need to take lots of pictures and post on social media, telling the world of their kindness story, making sure to tag the Catching Kindness team.
“It’s really very simple, and kindness is free,” says Ashley. At a time in history when the world needs more kindness, it’s good to know there are people who cherish it and want to share it with others. Be kind.
