Noyes Home awards Kindness in St. Joseph

The Noyes Home for Children encouraged St. Joseph youth to acknowledge and value kindness in the community with their Kindness Saint Joseph essay contest.

This past October, the Noyes Home asked St. Joseph students to write a one-page essay about the kindest person they know of in St. Joseph.

Executive Director of the Noyes Home, Chelsea Howlett, visited the local private schools on Friday, Jan. 3, to announce a few of the essay contest winners.

On Wednesday, Jan. 8, Howlett visited Coleman and Pershing Elementary, Robidoux Middle, Central and Benton High Schools to award the essay contest winners.

Along with announcing the 13 essay winners and the 13 kindest people last Wednesday afternoon, the Noyes Home will announce the winners for the Kindest School and Kindness Keepers, two individuals nominated by the community.

”I know there are a lot of other deserving schools and a lot of students and teachers across the town and across the state, but especially across St. Joseph, who model kindness and practice kindness every day,” Lindbergh Principal Gary Murphy said. “So we’re honored to be selected as one of the top and the top. So we’re beyond thrilled to be honored by the Noyes Home in their kindness school mission.”

”I think it’s important (to teach kindness) because the world, it’s a hard place,” Lindbergh Assistant Principal Kaleb Johnson said. “Life is tough. Circumstances are tough and hard. But just that little bit of kindness can help move mountains for somebody. So I‘m just continuing to promote that and doing that can really make all the difference for somebody.”

The 26 individuals, Kindest School and the two Kindness Keepers will be honored at a fundraiser for the Noyes Home March 29.