FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 880 S. Lemon Avenue
September 24, 2015 Walnut, CA 91789
Contact:
Kelli Gile, Office of Community Resources
(909)595-1261 ext. 31204
Teaching Kindness
Chaparral teacher celebrates birthday with 40 random acts of kindness.
DIAMOND BAR, CA--When Chaparral Middle School teacher Sherry Robertson turned 40 this year she didn’t want gifts or a party.
Instead, she decided to complete 40 random acts of kindness to mark the day.
“I wanted to do something original and when I mentioned it to my students they thought it was a great idea and wanted to join in.”
The educator made a spreadsheet to share her ideas with the sixth graders
Her goal was for volunteers to complete acts individually and then meet at a local shopping mall for the remaining gifts of kindness.
Three students joined the compassion day in honor of Robertson’s 40th birthday on August 8.
Seventh grader Ashley Jong, age 12, baked chocolate chips cookies and delivered to staff members at the Diamond Bar Library and Kaiser Emergency Room.
“I’ve watched my mom bake cookies, but this was my first time. They were good!” she recalled.
Classmate Noah Macalino, age 12, chose to open doors for strangers.
“I really like helping people and it’s fun to do!“ he said.
Student Ethan Yee was on vacation with his family in Las Vegas and also completed two acts of kindness. He presented a surprise gift card to a hard-working waitress and made a charity donation.
Jong also left a shovel and pail and bottles of bubbles at a local park with a note that read, “please enjoy this random act of kindness and pass it on!”
The do-gooders took photos of their kindness acts to document the day.
“Every act included a note with the social media hashtag “RAKbirthday2015 so people could check out the pictures,” Robertson said.
In total, completing 40 Random Acts of Kindness birthday took over eight hours.
Robertson and her family covered the community with kindness.
She had the help of her husband, Mario, and son Riley, a Quail Summit kindergartner.
“It has always been a priority for me to help my son grow up in an environment where he learns helping others is the norm,” Robertson said.
They handed out crayons and coloring books to children in a hospital emergency waiting room.
The family brought thank you photos to a caring fire chief and left laundry soap, fabric softener and quarters at a local laundromat.
“Enough for a few loads,” she said.
At Toys R Us, the Robertsons put quarters in all the toy vending machines at the front of the store.
“I wanted to wait to see all the kids come!” the bubbly teacher said.
The educator purposely asked her students to choose acts that were low in cost or free.
One approved random act was sending a thank you letter.
“The note had to be handwritten – no emails or text messages,” Robertson said.
“It takes effort and it’s the effort that makes people feel special.”
One of her favorite acts was leaving sticky notes with affirmations in women’s dressing rooms at Kohl’s.
“As I was leaving I heard one lady say ‘Yes, I do look fabulous today!’ when she saw the note.”
“The cool thing is if you get to see or hear someone receive it,” she commented.
In the afternoon, the group met up at the Shoppes in Chino Hills.
“We taped little bags of quarters to parking meters,” Jung proudly reported.
The trio randomly passed out gift cards to customers in Barnes and Noble bookstore. They even hid a few inside books.
Recipients were surprised at the caring gifts throughout the day.
“At first they thought we were joking,” Jong recalled.
“Some were suspicious, but most were appreciative and excited when we explained it.” Robertson shared.
“I had to tell one lady that there were no strings attached. These are my students and it’s my birthday. I just wanted to include them on what it feels like to do nice things for other people,” she added.
Robertson is happy that she offered a lesson in kindness to mark her milestone birthday.
“I’ll always remember that these kids went out of their comfort zone to help spread kindness. I’m so proud of them.”
“It was an awesome day!” Macalino said.
Shown:
Chaparral Middle School teacher Sherry Robertson with students Noah Macalino and Ashley Jong completed 40 random acts of kindness.
Educator Sherry Robertson tucks a gift card in an adoption book during her random acts of kindness birthday.
Chaparral student Ashley Jong delivered homemade cookies to a local hospital.
Chaparral student Ethan Yee offered a random act of kindness to a hard-working restuarant server.
Chaparral students Noah Macalino and Ashley Jong held the door open for customers during the random acts of kindness day.
Chaparral student Noah Macalino tapes a bag of quarters to a parking meter in a Chino Hills shopping mall.
Chaparral Middle School teacher Sherry Robertson celebrated her 40th birthday by completing 40 random acts of kindness.
Chaparral student Ashley Jong passed out gift cards in Barnes and Noble bookstore.