‘You’re not alone’: Glenwood Elementary student makes kindness cards for the Salvation Army

“If you are having a bad day, look at this and remember you’re not alone.”

Grade 7 student LJ wrote that message inside one of the kindness cards he created for the Salvation Army Ridge Meadows Ministries.

“Smile,” reads another, with a colourful illustration on the front. A vibrant painted wooden heart is tied to the top of the card with some twine.

The cards are part of a project LJ took on for the month of February, which is often referred to as kindness month in the lead up to Pink Shirt Day on Feb. 26.

“I decided to do it because my mom works for Salvation Army and the amazing work she does made me want to do this to help her out at work,” LJ explained. “She thinks it’s a good project.”

With the help of educational assistants and Glenwood Elementary support teacher Andrea Jeang, LJ was able to create dozens of cards with uplifting messages for the Salvation Army over a two-week period.

“As February is kindness month, I thought it would be meaningful for LJ to be able to do a kindness project,” Jeang explained. “He has always enjoyed helping out in the school community, including working with younger students and doing jobs around the school.”

Last year, she added, he even made a speech on helping those experiencing homelessness.

“LJ has shared with me that he wants to do similar work to his mom when he gets older,” Jeang said.

When Jeang pitched the idea of the cards to LJ, he was interested right away. He went home that night and asked his mom how many clients she worked with. When she said 35, he set out with the goal of creating a card for each of them.

LJ said he hopes the cards make his mom’s clients “happy” and that “it brightens up their day.”

“We have people doing everything they can to help out the community,” he said. “We should do our little bit too.”