Photo by Amy Byrnes
By Amy Byrnes
RUMSON – Last Saturday around lunchtime some of the littlest members of the Rumson-Fair Haven community – after a morning filled with soccer and before afternoon play dates – were busy thinking about what it means to be kind.
The group of elementary and preschool-age kids lay sprawled on the porch of a house in Rumson, working on posters promoting the upcoming R+FH Kindness Week, taking place at all five schools in Rumson and Fair Haven from Oct. 7-14. While the kids carefully colored with magic markers, their parents – who are part of a small group spearheading the ever-growing event – discussed putting the final pieces in place while complimenting the colorful artwork blooming underfoot.
One of those parents was Mia Choate, who was hosting the poster making on her front porch, which faces Ridge Road in Rumson. “It just seemed like a no-brainer,” she said later about her involvement organizing an event focused on kindness. “It would be impossible not to get behind this message.”
Heralded by official proclamations by the towns’ mayors and soon signage throughout the Rumson and Fair Haven downtowns, R+FH Kindness Week will offer students and the community at large multiple opportunities to perform random acts of kindness and spread kindness throughout the two towns and beyond.
During that week, all five schools within the community, including Rumson-Fair Haven High School and each town’s elementary and middle schools, will host an assembly featuring the founder of the nonprofit Think Kindness, Brian Williams, a young modivational speaker who travels around the country spreading his message of the importance of being kind. Parents will also have the opportunity to get in on the kindness during an evening program with Williams, who will share what their kids have been talking about in school.
The idea to bring Williams and his message of kindness to the R+FH community had been percolating for a couple of years, after Jon Carras, a producer for “CBS Sunday Morning,” discovered the speaker for a segment he was working on for the television show in December 2017.
Carras, who’s lived in Rumson for eight years with his wife and now 7- and 5-year-old children, said he was struck by how Williams didn’t focus on bullying but instead “spread the message that kindness is cool and that everybody can make a difference through being kind.” Following the national exposure, even the New York Yankees wanted to get in on the act and contacted Williams about coming to speak, said Carras.
Carras brought the idea to Rumson’s superintendent in spring 2018 and they agreed to wait until this fall to bring Williams and his message to the district.
Photo by Amy Byrnes
“But then, the conversation kept growing,” he said, and soon it spread into Fair Haven’s schools and then the high school, which, he added, really made it more of a community-wide event. Through various funding mechanism like PTOs/ PTAs and generous private donations, organizers were also able to create “Kindness Counts” T-shirts for the almost 3,500 students and staff to wear the day of each school’s assembly.
The week will kick off Monday, Oct. 7 with assemblies at both Sickles elementary and Knollwood middle school in Fair Haven during the school day, followed by the parent and community gathering at Rumson-Fair Haven High School, with complimentary childcare, starting at 7:30 p.m. The kindness continues Tuesday, Oct. 8 in Rumson with assemblies at Deane Porter and Forrestdale schools. Carras explained that Williams will tailor each assembly to the age level of the students involved.
For John Bormann, Rumson schools superintendent, “The program supports our school mission of igniting the potential of our students socially and emotionally, while supporting the continued growth of empathy and kindness in the children of the community.”
Debra Gulick, superintendent at Rumson-Fair Haven High School, said, “Participating in Kindness Week will allow us to come together to focus on taking the time for small acts of kindness, which strengthens us as a caring community.”
Once they had the schools on board, Carras and his team started to look at getting the rest of the community involved. Over the next few weeks, signs will start going up at businesses throughout the two towns and organizations like the borough libraries, promoting the focus on kindness.
At River Road Books in Fair Haven a special table will be set up in the front displaying many books that encourage readers to be kind. “Books play a huge role in teaching empathy and kindness to children,” said Karen Rumage, one of the store’s owners. “We encourage children to stop by and tell us about their favorites and why!”
Firefly Yogis, located on East River Road in Rumson, will incorporate kindness lessons into all of their classes during that week and classes of all ages will create colorful kindness posters to be displayed in the studio windows.
Kindness will also have a presence at the end of the week at the Rumson PTO’s Fall Festival, beginning at 4:30 p.m. Oct. 11 at Forrestdale Middle School. Volunteers created large wooden paw prints where students can place a word that resonates with them about being kind.
Carras said that he and his wife often talk about being kind with their two children and he hopes Kindness Week is just the start of a movement that builds steam throughout the year and is a call to action to the community.
“It’s something you can incorporate into your life in large and small ways that just becomes a part of your life,” he said.
