Centerville woman, students show that kindness goes a long way

CENTERVILLE, Ohio (WDTN) — When you go out of your way to to do something nice for someone or just show appreciation, you’ll find that more often than not your good deed goes unnoticed.

But every once in a while, these acts of kindness can inspire someone else to pay it forward. And it’s happening everyday in the Miami Valley.

At Centerville Primary North you’ll always be reminded that a small act of kindness can go a long way. “The theme of kindness is really woven into what we do with the children all year long,” said Mindy Cline, Principal at Centerville Primary North.

Students at Primary North do many things to make a difference.

“We’ve asked them as a class to pick an act of kindness and then share it with us so that’s what they’ve done on this board, such as sharing kind smiles, compliments, hanging post-it notes around the building to spread kindness to other students,” Counselor Amy Ott said.

This month the students are being recognized for their kind acts with the help of Dayton Acknowledging Acts of Kindness club. Coordinator, Ann Sheehan, created the program to highlight those priceless acts.

“There really is no price other than your giving of yourself to somebody else,” she said.

The organization distributes cards that read “thank you for your positive attitude and kindness.” When members witness an act of kindness they give the kind person a card to acknowledge the act. It’s a reminder that an act of kindness doesn’t have to be a grand gesture.

“We talk about how small our students are being preschool, kindergarten, and first-graders and yet they can make a huge difference in peoples lives,” Ott said.

“I had someone take my grocery cart back for me at Kroger, instead of my having to do it after I unloaded the groceries. It was a young person and I think they recognized that it would help me. There’s just so many things that people can do,” said Sheehan.

So far, Sheehan has given out 27,900 kindness cards.