An arts nonprofit in Bloomington is encouraging kids to perform random acts of kindness in a new kid-led community service program.
Mary "Mare" Darling leads children's programs at Threshold to Hope. She began a community kindness club in July, inspired by similar initiatives at area schools.
Spreading Peace and Acts of Random Kindness in Blo-No, or SPARK, meets twice monthly in two cohorts.
“We started with the question, who can we help, how can we help and what's our goals? I gave the kids some Post-it notes, and we're making this kid-led,” Darling said. “I am the leader, but I'm going to help make their dreams and wishes and who they want to help come true and make it happen.”
Darling opens each meeting by handing out an agenda. It highlights SPARK’s goals for the week and gives the children a guide for the meeting. The meeting also starts with a weekly kindness highlight, where attendees share an act of kindness they did throughout the week.
In addition to the agenda, a paper is handed out with the THINK acronym: is it True, is it Helpful, is it Inspiring, is it Necessary and is it Kind. This helps guide the children's discussions.
What it means to be in SPARK
SPARK accepts children all the way from Pre-K to high school, as well as their guardians. Darling started the club with a handful of kids and parents and has seen growth over time.
“We just are trying to make a very welcoming kind club for everybody," she said. "No one is not welcome whether you have a disability, low income, whatever your faith, religion, anything is, everybody is welcomed."
Accomplishments so far
SPARK’s first project was to create a tie blanket for Threshold to Hope's director, who was experiencing some health issues. Since, SPARK has expanded to the community.
“Our biggest project right now has just started for the month of September, it is collecting hygiene items for PATH," she said.
The group is making bags out of duct tape to go along with the care packages.
The future of SPARK
The children hope to help individuals in cancer centers, help kids in the foster system and help out with the police and fire department. SPARK also hopes to continue growing its number of attendees.
“I just want it to grow,” Darling said. “We can get all of the kids together and they can become friends and interact with each other when they see each other, but also I just want to have some kids who are going to grow up to be really helpful, decent, caring humans.”
SPARK meets every first and third Monday from 2-3:30 p.m. and on the second and fourth Fridays from 4-5:30. More information can be found on Threshold to Hope's Facebook page.
