Rachel's Challenge - Doing Good: 101

I'll never forget one evening in the spring of 2007. Sitting like an island with my tools and sheets of metal circling me, I was experimenting with different design ideas for my Kindness Ring project.

For several years, I had been contemplating ways to incorporate the importance of kindness into our schools. Not having a teaching background and discovering that most of the school programs were designed on a state level, not local which I had previously assumed, I came to the conclusion that I was out of my comfort zone as far as establishing a kindness program. Still deeply concerned about the lack of respect and tolerance I observed through direct experience or from the media, especially in our schools with violent behavior on the rise, I decided to use the skills I had as a designer and was in the process of creating String-Ring, The Kindness Reminder Ring.

With my plan in production, that evening in 2007 Larry King was on the television. I put down my work when a man named Darrell Scott spoke of his daughter, Rachel, and the organization he created in her name. His message was so much my own: Teaching compassion through kindness. Rachel's story was both tragic and yet beautifully inspiring. In spite of her family's heartbreak after her death, they kept her motto of Chain Reaction Kindness going and founded Rachel's Challenge. An organization designed to change the culture of our schools into one of compassion and kindness.

If you are unfamiliar with Rachel's story, I encourage you to go to the Rachel's Challenge website and watch the videos. You will be moved. She was a vibrant young lady who was known for her kindness. Though she was beautiful and popular, she was the kind of person that would befriend anyone, regardless of his or her social status. She had written an essay about the power of kindness and its chain reaction ability of generating more kindness. Shortly after, Rachel Scott was the first person killed in the 1999 Columbine massacre.

Next Tuesday, April 20, is the 11th anniversary of the shooting. I've blogged before about Rachel's Essay, and the Rachel's Challenge Organization, and would like to encourage you to vote for Rachel's Challenge in the $250,000 funding program by the Pepsi Refresh Project. Should RC win, the funds will be used to implement programs designed to reduce violence and encourage kindness in schools across the country.

From the Rachel's Challenge website:
We want to reach 100,000 students in America with the message of kindness and compassion in Rachel’s Challenge. Many schools can’t have programs like this because of significant budget cuts that have been made in education. We want to create a subsidy program to designate funds to allow Rachel’s Challenge to come to every state in America. (Percentage of total funds will be allocated to each state based on their past involvement.)

Click here to find out more about the Pepsi Refresh Grant.

Click here to vote for Rachel's Challenge and help create a safer, kinder environment for learning in our schools.