By Cheryl Conway
For the month of November, students at St. Therese School in Succasunna donated pajamas to support the Kindness for Christopher Campaign.
Second grade teacher Kristen Taylor spearheaded the pajama drive with her class opening the campaign to the entire school. Out of the 150 families, 120 pairs of pajamas were donated.
As a teacher at the school for the past 12 years, Taylor says for the past five years she has participated in the Scholastic Books Great Bedtime Story Pajama Drive, with pajamas going to those in need; this year, after following the Kindness For Christopher Campaign on Facebook, she decided on a more local drive.
“I saw on Facebook they were holding this drive,” says Taylor. “We usually do it through Scholastic Drive but we thought since this was local we would do this for Kindness For Christopher. That it would have more meaning. This year, [I] decided to donate to an organization close to home; felt this was a perfect opportunity to bring some service into the school.”
Kindness For Christopher is a campaign that was started by the family of Christopher D’Amico, a 10 year old boy who died from a tragic boating accident on June 24, 2015. They started the movement “In an effort to keep his memory alive, help us heal and remind the world the amazing human being we lost,” as they state on the Facebook page.
The family launched the Kindness For Christopher campaign to promote random acts of kindness, an effort that spread internationally.
The family initiated the second annual Kindness For Christopher Pajama Drive, “In honor/memory of our pajama wearing son, Christopher, donations will be delivered to hospitals, shelters, nursing homes and orphanages,” the family states on the website. “Keeping people warm and snuggly- wrapping them in a hug!”
The drive was held Sept. 24 through Nov. 24.
For the school drive, Taylor requested pajamas from infant to young adults.
“My goal was to get 90 pair,” says Taylor. “This was just more than what we had hoped for. We were thrilled. It was so great to see the second graders bring in the pajamas. They were so excited.”
Taylor also used the donations as a math lesson for students to practice their tally marks.
“I didn’t go into detail as to who Christopher was,” adds Taylor, “but I felt this was a great lesson for the kids to do good for the community.”
Taylor dropped off the school’s donation on Nov. 22 at the CKO Kickboxing in Ledgewood which was collecting for the Kindness For Christopher Foundation.
For her next service project, Taylor plans to organize a dog/cat food collection for service shelters in January. She tries to complete three projects during the school year to teach students the importance of helping others.
“They realize there’s children in the world that are less fortunate than them and they are learning to put others’ needs before theirs,” she concludes. “These little kids are doing extraordinary things, for seven and eight year olds to be doing this is a pretty cool thing.”Kindness can come in all forms… like holding a door open, telling someone they look great that day.. it’s not monetary.. but it can be..like buying someone a cup of coffee..etc. and if you feel inclined, post what you did to our page… We’ve seen how contagious this can become.. In eight short months this has become a global movement with people doing some amazing things from Hawaii to ItalyAs well as we had a pajama drive that raised over 4,000 pairs of PJs to sick children and the elderly.. All we are asking is for people to do one random act of kindness daily but especially on the 24th of every month in honor of our son.
Kindness can come in all forms… like holding a door open, telling someone they look great that day.. it’s not monetary.. but it can be..like buying someone a cup of coffee..etc. and if you feel inclined, post what you did to our page… We’ve seen how contagious this can become.. In eight short months this has become a global movement with people doing some amazing things from Hawaii to Italy..We were featured on News 12, the Daily Record and Fox News to millions of people.
If you already participate in our movement..You already know the amazing and incredible things that can happen with people’s kindness and for that we thank you!!
If you haven’t already liked our page and participated in the movement please consider doing so…you will feel amazing and you will keep the memory of our angel alive. Share the page…Share the movement… Spread the Kindness.. do one kind deed and post it on this page to inspire others to do the same in Christopher’s memory.
Christopher’s vibrant personality was infectious. He can still spread his smiles from Heaven through the work of others. Acts of kindness can come in all forms. Post photos and acts of kindness here so we as a community can keep his legacy alive.s.. As well as we had a pajama drive that raised over 4,000 pairs of PJs to sick children and the elderly.. All we are asking is for people to do one random act of kindness daily but especially on the 24th of every month in honor of our son.
Kindness can come in all forms… like holding a door open, telling someone they look great that day.. it’s not monetary.. but it can be..like buying someone a cup of coffee..etc. and if you feel inclined, post what you did to our page… We’ve seen how contagious this can become.. In eight short months this has become a global movement with people doing some amazing things from Hawaii to Italy..We were featured on News 12, the Daily Record and Fox News to millions of people.
If you already participate in our movement..You already know the amazing and incredible things that can happen with people’s kindness and for that we thank you!!
If you haven’t already liked our page and participated in the movement please consider doing so…you will feel amazing and you will keep the memory of our angel alive. Share the page…Share the movement… Spread the Kindness.. do one kind deed and post it on this page to inspire others to do the same in Christopher’s memory.
Christopher’s vibrant personality was infectious. He can still spread his smiles from Heaven through the work of others. Acts of kindness can come in all forms. Post photos and acts of kindness here so we as a community can keep his legacy alive.