CES spreads kindness

CENTREVILLE — How do you share kindness? Can you bottle it up? Centreville Elementary School shares kindness in bags — many, many bags.

By definition, kindness is being friendly, generous, and considerate, and that perfectly describes what happened at CES. The teachers, staff, and students — along with their families — made kindness bags and baskets full of snacks, drinks, hand sanitizers and more for the local first responders. The bags included drawings and encouraging thank you notes for the local EMS, Goodwill Fire Department, and five local police agencies.

The annual event at CES encourages giving back to those that continually help day in and day out. Principal, Theresa Farnell, explains, “This year our theme at Centreville Elementary School is, “With Kindness We Stand Tall.” Our First Responder Kindness bags were one of three schoolwide kind acts we did this year. We love to support our community and our first responders! Our CES CUBS donated 586 items for our community helpers. We can’t wait to give them out to those who take care of us during our most neediest and vulnerable times.” With 588 students at CES, that is just about one act of kindness per student!

Once the items were collected, the first responders visited the students at school to share more about their work as well as ways to stay safe and healthy. The teamwork, collaboration, and appreciation shown among both the students, adults, and the community is a memorable and valuable life-long lesson for all.