Reporter's Notebook: ‘Kindness Project’ is inspiring

Reporter's Notebook

Discussion

COMMENTING ON STORIES:

Welcome to our story comments feature. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including the unpopular ones. We only ask that you keep your conversations clean, civil and on the topic of the story you are commenting on.

Coinciding with our websites redesign, we launched our new story comments feature through Disqus.

Disqus gives users the ability to log into our story comments feature so that they may be able to track their conversations, receive emails when their comments get a reply or to even have your comments update onto your Facebook or Twitter accounts.

For the time being, our story comments feature will continue to have the ability to post comments anonymously. We reserve the right to require registration in the future using your name and verified email address.

Not all comments are deemed printable. Some are disqualified at the newspaper’s discretion for a number of different reasons. Please follow our Online Rules of Conduct at all times.

RULES OF CONDUCT:

We reserve the right to remove comments that are unacceptable, to wit:

1. False and inacurate statements.
2. Personal attacks. Explicit name-calling.
3. Harassing, harmful, vulgar, obscene and defamatory language.
4. Threatening statements or statements that suggest violence.
5. Hate speech of any kind.
6. Intolerant comments on religion, race, age, gender, sexual preference or disabilities.
7. Accusations of criminal activity.
8. Content that is harmful to children and minors in any way.
9. References to any type of sexual activity and other private matters.
10. Random and inflammatory statements that are off topic.
11. Advertising of any kind.
12. Typing in all caps.

WE ENCOURAGE REASONABLE AND COURTEOUS COMMENTS THAT:

1. Create conversation on issues of interest and concern to fellow readers and local community members.
2. Express opinions and contrarian views.
3. Stimulate debate with respectful language.
4. Stay within the boundaries of these rules.

WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO SUSPEND OR TERMINATE ACCESS FOR:

1. Violating any of these Online Rules of Conduct.
2. Deliberately disrupting discussions with repetitive messages, meaningless messages or spam.
3. Misrepresentation of identity or impersonating another user.

WE WELCOME:

1. Flagging violations of these rules that you observe to our attention.

MONITORING:

We monitor comments regularly Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Approval of comments outside of this time (including weekends) will be sporadic.

comments powered by Disqus

March 6, 2010

Reporter's Notebook: ‘Kindness Project’ is inspiring

Anonymous The Daily Star Sat Mar 06, 2010, 09:52 AM EST

BY MARK BOSHNACK STAFF WRITER Colleen Andrew’s second-grade class is working on its kindness project. In December, students handed out Hannaford gift cards to people on Main Street telling them to “have a nice holiday and pay it forward,” Andrew said.

“I saw how excited they were in December, and I needed a way to tap the motivation they got out of it,” she said. When the class was getting ready to do its February random acts of kindness project, it had read a book about how large 1 million was, she said. In response, the class wanted to raise $1 million.

But she suggested “wouldn’t it be cool” if the class started a Facebook page and got 1 million fans, she said. So far, they have attracted more than 15,000 fans to the site “Mrs. Andrews 2nd Grade-Kindness Project.”

“It’s nice to see their reaction,” she said.

When one of the students questioned how they would know if the Facebook fans carried out their projects, “we just have to have faith that people will follow through with it,” she said.

“The energy it generates now is really good,” she said. At some point it will probably die down. The Facebook page will stay up as long as it’s effective, she said.

“I hope we get to 1 million (fans),” 7-year-old Ava Eichler said.

She said when the project started, she thought it would be year before they got to 100. The Delaware County Dairy Princess, Katelyn Walley, 17, has made the most of her opportunity. She was chosen as second alternate at the state Dairy Princess Pageant in February.

“You go all over the state” talking about the importance of getting three servings of dairy products a day, she said.

She will be busy most every weekend, but she doesn’t mind because she has a good excuse to avoid chores on the Walton family farm, she said. Her first appearance was before the American Dairy Association and Dairy Council, shortly after she was chosen, thanking them for their support. The United Way of Delaware and Otsego Counties received $5,286 from the recent Goodyear Lake Polar Bear Jump. This was the first time the agency benefited from the local fundraiser, United Way Executive Director Terry Capuano said.

Especially in a year when the overall totals were down, the support was appreciated, she said. The 2009 campaign raised $327,000, falling $16,000 short of its goal, officials said.

To deal with a difficult economy for the upcoming campaign, “We are looking for other organizations (such as the Polar Bear Jump) that will help us,” she said.

The campaign committee is also working in a new golf tournament fundraiser, she said. Dozens of people attended a February retirement celebration at Morris Hall for State University College at Oneonta Vice President for Community Relations Carol Blazina.

A presentations of a wooden chair was made by Diane Williams, executive director of Oneonta Auxiliary Services, a nonprofit founded in the 1950s to provide essential services to the college. The traditional retirement gift will be engraved with the college seal, she said.

Blazina has had a significant impact on the college, devoting herself to a number of programs, including serving as adviser to the Terpsichorean Dance Company.

Former college President Alan Donovan said Blazina was instrumental in developing the positive community relations the college enjoys today. He worked with her to get the college’s Alumni Fieldhouse built, and she played a key role in getting singer Tony Bennett to perform there, and later Willie Nelson.

Blazina said she has been to a lot of retirement parties for others at the college. “It was very different” being on the other side, she said.

MARK BOSHNACK can be reached at 432- 1000 or (800) 721-1000, ext. 218, or at mboshnack@thedailystar.com.