“Kindness is what is missing in society. It’s needed to solve the problems of racism and violence, and other forms of abuse.” Those are the words of Andrea Inverso, the founder and chief executive officer of Mission: Kindness International, Inc., a Trenton-based organization that has made its mission to promote kindness to combat the ills in society. On May 7 at an event at the State House in Trenton, the organization gave awards to Jersey City public schools No. 6 and No. 11 for being two of the state’s “top 25 kindest schools.” Also, Mayor Glenn Cunningham was named the recipient of the Kindest Mayor in the State of New Jersey award with the city of Jersey City being named the Kindness Awareness Place of New Jersey. Cunningham, however, was not able to attend the event.
Inverso said last week that the awards were based on the accomplishments of schools that participated in a statewide competition. In September, the organization sent schools paperwork on which to log all acts of kindness performed over a four-week period, such as volunteer work, fund drives and community service.
Those logs were then returned to the organization’s office, where Inverso and a small volunteer staff tallied them and came up with the schools that logged the most acts of kindness, with Public School No. 6 submitting the highest number.
“The mailman almost had a hernia trying the pick up the box with all the logs from School No. 6,” said Inverso. While thousands of schools in the state performed acts of kindness, only 25 took part in the competition. Inverso said that the top four schools and the top four municipalities received awards this year, with School No. 6 receiving the honor for top school in the state the second consecutive year.
She also said that cities with winning schools also receive awards.
Inverso said that Public School No. 6 and other schools that received top awards for two years in a row will not be allowed to participate in next year’s competition, but can still do acts of kindness and help to promote May as Kindness Awareness Month in New Jersey.
“Some schools get so great at it, in terms of submitting logs of their acts of kindness,” said Inverso, “We try to be fair in every way, which means they can’t compete for the trophy but they can get a plaque.”
The city’s reaction in kind
“This is a great reflection on the City of Jersey City and the students,” said Cunningham recently. “It is great to see our young people working to help others and promoting kindness as a way of life.”
Vasiliki Lempesis, the guidance counselor at Public School No. 6, helped coordinate with her fellow faculty members the acts of kindness that the 1,057 students of the school performed.
Lempesis said the projects and acts of kindness were tallied from a period of Jan. 19 to Feb. 19 of this year, with the acts ranging from yard work to doing shopping for elderly neighbors.
“The kids appreciate when the value of the kind deeds they perform are recognized,” said Lempesis. “It goes with a motto we have at the school, ‘In Giving, We Receive.’ ” School Principal Richard Messano said, “Each act of kindness that you do is returned in one way or another. No act goes unrewarded.”
Messano also announced two acts of kindness that the school would be performing in the near future. First, on May 19, the school will present to Cunningham the plaque and banner that he was supposed to receive for himself and the city at the May 7 event, which the school received on his behalf. The school also plans to raise funds for Mission: Kindness International since it is running out of funds to continue its operation. Messano said the school is looking to raise at least $8,000 to help the organization.
Inverso confirmed that her organization is funded by personal finances and small grants from Wachovia and Sovereign banks, and is essentially a one-person operation. Money raised would help in maintaining the organization and preparing for next year’s activities, which would kick off the organization’s ten-year anniversary.
She said last week that the organization is hoping to hold their annual banquet for award recipients at the Governor’s Mansion in Drumthwacket, located in South Jersey.
For more information on the organization, call (609) 396-2278.