The Kind Campaign of Tallahassee hosted an event Tuesday, Feb. 10 to bring love to the Refuge house of Leon County for Valentine’s Day.
Tallahassee’s Kind Campaign Club members met up at the Southwood Community Center to assemble Valentine’s Day baskets, goodie bags and handmade cards to donate to the Refuge House of Leon County.
The Kind campaign is an internationally known non-profit organization and program that started in February of 2009. It focuses on spreading kindness and bringing awareness to the negative and lasting effects of bullying and other hurtful crimes amongst young girls.
Tallahassee’s chapter of the Kind Campaign Club had its first meeting in November of 2014 and is open to girls between the ages of 6-13.
Chief financial officer and parent of Tallahassee’s Kind Campaign Club, Rachel Goodson, helped organize the treats and goodie bags on Tuesday while the group of girls created the Valentine’s Day cards.
“A big part of our organization is giving back and community service. Today we’re putting together about 50 goodie bags to send to the refuge house for Valentine’s Day, so we asked the community and parents involved to donate candy and cards. We’re all participating in putting it together,” Goodson said.
Mandy O’Callaghan, parent, president, mentor and organizer of the Kind Campaign Club, brought the club to Tallahassee to create a support network for young girls who’ve suffered from or have been exposed to bullying.
“Girls bully each other in a particular way, and women learn that social communication is a strength. Very early girls learn that they can make themselves superior by putting other girls down socially and girls learn to have a hierarchy that way,” O’Callaghan said.
“We teach our girls to be aware of bullying and how to address it. And one of the ways to address bullying is doing kind things,” O’Callaghan continued.
There is currently only two clubs located in Florida. Besides the club in Tallahassee, there is another club located in West Palm Beach.
Frenia Maignan-Valcin, a Miami native who’s a parent and takes frequent trips to West Palm Beach, expressed her opinion about the non-profit organization.
“I’m a mother to a daughter who’s three but she’s still growing up around other young girls. They learn very young how to be mean and do things to hurt other’s feelings. I think this program is great for teaching girls early on how to break out of that,” Valcin said.
The Kind Campaign Club holds their meetings on the second Tuesday of every month at the Southwood Community Center at 6:30 p.m.