Kindness project spreading sunshine to children in hospital

Students from a school in St. Pierre-Jolys, Man. recently gave a hug in a box to kids in the Steinbach hospital.

Four classes of grades 5 and 6 in Ecole Heritage Immersion came up with different ideas to spread kindness to the community with a nationwide Kindness Project.

Early in 2021, each student came up with an idea. The entire group settled on four ways to spread joy in the community and then got busy with creating and doing them.

For the Kindness Project, the students picked up garbage, made cards for the senior centre, painted rocks, as well as created activity boxes for sick kids.

"I came up with the idea that we could make care packages for children in the hospital when they're waiting in their bed for a surgery or if they're going for a check-up. Then, if they're bored, they can have a box with fun things in it," says Moxie St.Cyr, a student in grade 6.

The group of students each made a box with personalized items in it.

"The kindness care package had a colouring book, some crayons, a bracelet, a rock, a squishy, and a poster," says St.Cyr. Each piece in the box was hand-made, including the colouring/activity book.

Seeing Kindness in Action

Some of the staff at Bethesda Hospital in Steinbach.

Jacki Balfour is a mother of five from Steinbach. Her youngest son Timmy often has check-ups.

"We have four biological kids and Timmy is our fifth, cherry on top, adopted from Bulgaria," says Balfour.

Timmy was placed in an orphanage early on, as he has Down Syndrome. According to Balfour, while it's getting better, parents in Bulgaria that have children with special needs are encouraged to give them up for adoption. This is due to being ill-equipped to care for them.

"God had really put it on our heart to adopt a child with Down Syndrome. Right away we could see the hand of God on his life. Three years ago on May 28, we brought him home. Everywhere we go, it feels like the Lord goes before him," she says.

This past week, Balfour took Timmy for some blood work at the hospital in Steinbach.

"A nurse said, 'I have something for him.' After checking in, a worker brought us this beautiful box and it's decorated top to bottom. It says it's from Moxie St.Cyr. I opened it and it's packed with encouraging notes."

One of the notes said 'Today is beautiful because God made it' while another said, 'You are a light in this world, keep shining.'

"Timmy didn't really know what to do with it, but I felt like the Lord was blessing our visit. This box showing up from this beautiful-hearted child made me feel so encouraged."

Balfour says after taking the box home, her four other children were blessed by the care package.