ST. PAUL – In a classroom filled with young students leaning forward over their tables, all eyes were set upon two individuals, listening to them speak about creating a better tomorrow.
“Be kind and respectful, because everybody can participate in creating a better tomorrow,” Mary Musa, outreach worker for the Capella Centre, told the St. Paul Elementary School students. Musa also told them about the Capella Centre, a women’s shelter in St. Paul, and the services they provide.
Kindness, according to Musa, could not be measured on a chart nor held within one’s palm. It is through empathy, thoughtfulness, acceptance, kind gestures, and compliments that kindness is shown.
Maureen Miller, Mayor of the Town of St. Paul, was also present during last Wednesday’s presentation. She nodded in agreement to Musa’s words and said, “just saying ‘hello’ and ‘how are you’ reduces 23 per cent of our stress.”
Then Hailie Pelham, a child and youth worker, added that acts of kindness could start a “ripple effect” of positive actions within a circle of friends and the greater community.
“The more times kindness spreads, a stronger sense of safety and security exists for everybody,” she explained. But it does often require courage and strength.
The concept of kindness was further shared with the elementary school students, engaging them not only verbally but artfully through illustrations – and a game of bingo. Examples of acts of kindness were written on a piece of paper, and students could raise their hands if they had done them.
After half an hour with the students and their teachers playing the game and handing out treats to the winners, Pelham said, “I feel bad” and said she wished there were more treats that could be shared with the students. But it was not long before the students who won treats shared the candies with their classmates and teachers.
The presentation in the St. Paul Elementary School classroom marked the beginning of Capella Centre’s “Be Kind” presentations for the province-wide Family Violence Prevention Month, according to Andrea Myers, executive director of the Capella Centre.
In previous years, the Capella Centre, in partnership with St. Paul Regional Family and Community Services (FCSS), hosted a ‘Walk of Hope.’ This year, Myers said the Capella Centre is shifting gears and doing individual presentations to students throughout the month of November for students in Grades 4-6.
Myers said the Capella Centre wants to make a real impact in changing the narrative of violence, and “it needs to start at a younger age,” beginning with simple concepts of kindness and respect.
When concepts like kindness and respect are strengthened with the youth, “then you don’t have those incidents of violence you will see in later years.”
“Because you’ve established good relationships, healthy boundaries, and healthy relationships,” said Myers.
She likened kindness and respect at a younger age akin to a “muscle” that needs to be exercised daily to strengthen and grow. “You can’t immediately go to running 26 kilometres a day... you have to start doing simple things,” she said.
“They just have to smile,” or do simple gestures like holding the door open, and “doing things anyone can do,” said Myers.
On Nov. 30, the Capella Centre will be hosting its annual candlelight vigil, as Family Violence Prevention Month winds down.
The candlelight vigil recognizes those who have experienced domestic violence. It will be held at the Lions Park, located on St. Paul’s main street.
