[00:00:00] Deanna Kitchen: Welcome. I'm so glad you're joining us again today. I am so excited to get to introduce you to today's guest. She is a flower farmer, FFA teacher, and has the biggest heart, and you will just be so inspired by the way that she's growing kindness not only in her community, but in her students' lives. Amy, thank you so much for being here with us today.
[00:00:37] Deanna Kitchen: Hey friend. Welcome to the Growing Kindness Podcast. I'm your host, Deanna Kitchen, founder of the Growing Kindness Movement. This is a place where we grow together, learning to root our lives in kindness, connection, and community. If you've ever wished the world felt a little. Softer, a little more neighborly. Or if you're craving stories that remind you that goodness still grows, you're in the right place.
[00:00:58] Deanna Kitchen: Together with our guests, we'll share stories of generosity and community, proof that even the smallest acts of kindness, from growing and giving kept flowers to everyday acts of care, can change lives and connect us in powerful ways. I'm so glad you're here. Let's get started.
[00:01:26] Deanna Kitchen: Well, do you wanna start with sharing a little about you and your corner of the world that you call home? And maybe we could also talk a little bit about where you teach and a little bit about your FFA students.
[00:01:38] Amy Morrison: Yeah, they're all kind of intertwined, and we're actually in a neighboring situation, right?
[00:01:43] Amy Morrison: So I'm in the Skagit Valley as well. I'm here in Mount Vernon, Washington. If you dunno anything about the Pacific Northwest, it's kind of Dahlia and tulip heaven, and so I got used to being around flowers from the time that I was a kid. I actually went to Mount Vernon High School as a student, and now I am back teaching at my alma mater, which is kind of a unique experience, but I definitely love it.
[00:02:04] Amy Morrison: I've been teaching here now for the last 14 years, 17 total in my teaching career, all of that teaching agriculture science, so horticulture, floral design, animal science. Things like that, as well as co-advising our FFA program. So I am excited to continue working with the Growing Kindness Job Project.
[00:02:23] Deanna Kitchen: Yes, absolutely. Well, we're so thrilled to get to hear more about your journey and kind of how you're here now, even with us on the podcast as an FFA teacher and high school teacher. And you teach grades nine through 12, correct?
[00:02:36] Amy Morrison: Nine through 12, yep. Mixed. All my classes are elective, so anybody, any grade level can take them.
[00:02:42] Deanna Kitchen: I love it. I'd love to talk specifically today about how you first got connected with growing kindness movement. Um, so you wanna reflect back on that? It may be. I think we may have to dig back a few chapters. Right.
[00:02:55] Amy Morrison: I actually was digging back through my Instagram page to like find a year, 'cause I knew it was around 2020 with the COVID shutdown, but I couldn't remember exactly.
[00:03:04] Amy Morrison: I found my very first like. Inquiry post about the growing kindness project back then, uh, was about 2019. So I bought my house in 18, started growing flowers and gardening kind of as like a hobby for myself, but also as a way to. Get out of the dumps post-divorce. I had been around gardens before. I'd gardened with my mom growing up as a kid, but I never really like, took to it, loved to do it, and so I started to grow, uh, cut flowers.
[00:03:34] Amy Morrison: I threw a couple of bags of Dahlia tubers I bought from Costco into a garden bed that the house came with. Didn't really know what I was doing, but I was searching. Like Instagrams of farm pages I got on Floret, I got on your farm page, couple other local gals and just was trying to kind of mimic what they were doing.
[00:03:51] Amy Morrison: Like if they're in my area and they can do this, I can do this. I'll figure it out. Most of that really sparked from teaching floral design. I just wanted to get more connected to what I was teaching. Had no idea how good or bad it was gonna go, what I could really do. 'cause I'd never been really that big into it and I just fell in love with it that first growing season.
[00:04:10] Amy Morrison: I swear was my best one. Just like beginner's luck. I've never been that good at that many things ever before in my life. And so the next year I was like, okay, I'm gonna do this again and grow a little bit more. And then that led to so much excess that I wanted to find a way to get rid of it in a nice way.
[00:04:27] Amy Morrison: And that's how I found growing kindness Project. So I started doing little arrangements in mason jars, offered them to my coworkers, places I would go in town. I had set up this like little portable camping table. I had out my garage door kind of on the side of the road every now and again, and my neighbors walked to the neighborhood, started to realize what was going on.
[00:04:49] Amy Morrison: The COVID shutdown is really what took off and started to make it more like funneled as a actual thing, and that's where I got connected with the holiday cheer campaign. So when all of that went down, we were in our classrooms but with no kids, and I was trying to find ways to still teach floral design and all the other hands-on things virtually, which was like.
[00:05:12] Amy Morrison: Uh, mind blogging, like every teacher had a rough time. Those of us in like hands-on electives, classes, like auto shop, wood shop, culinary, like it was a, a total game changer of like, how do we do this? Like, because. All of that stuff was how we connected with kids and got them interested in our subject. And now it's like, stay away.
[00:05:33] Amy Morrison: We can't touch, we can't see, we can't meet. How do I do that? And so we had such a great group of staff members here on our campus that stuck around and offered to help out with all kinds of things from meal pickups to a library checkout system. And so I just asked one day, Hey, like if I. Pre-packaged, like little take home kits.
[00:05:54] Amy Morrison: So floral arrangements, could we offer that during the meal pickup time so kids could come and if they had transportation and could find a way, could we do that? And they said yes. So I started packaging things like that. Uh, I put a post in like my Google classrooms, like, Hey, if you can't make it, can I bring it to you?
[00:06:12] Amy Morrison: And we would start to do it. I just did it twice a month at that point just to get something off the get go. And it was timed right at holiday break almost this time last year about Thanksgiving time. And so I really wanted to find a way that anybody could make something in the holiday time. And you were offering your free resources at that time, a nice printable and all that.
[00:06:33] Amy Morrison: So I, I stole it and I used it in my classes. You didn't steal it, you put it to good work. I put it to good work and I thought, you know, it's a good one that. Even if they couldn't make it in, even if I couldn't get to them. 'cause at that first year, there were kids all over the country, even at that point, just hunkering down with their families wherever they could.
[00:06:50] Amy Morrison: Anybody could potentially find the resources in their neighborhood wherever they were at, to forage an arrangement together in whatever container. And so I was really just trying to teach the basics at that point. Let's just get savvy with our materials. Let's make something together creative. And it seriously was probably one of the best like Zoom classes I had, where kids would actually turn on their cameras and actually ask the questions and Hey, does this look okay?
[00:07:14] Amy Morrison: And they were showing it the whole screen lit up. It was awesome 'cause it wasn't like that for the last two months of teaching during COVID time. And ever since then, I've just wanted to continue and it's grown into what it is today.
[00:07:26] Deanna Kitchen: I absolutely love. You know, I, I probably will end up saying this in every podcast, but this is just so core to our, our mission is that start where you are, use what you have, and just saying, how can I empower these kids and get really creative with the resources that you had to offer them and the limitations that you had, you know, surrounding that to just say, Hey, I'm gonna find a way to help these kids get to enter into the joy of making something beautiful and then sharing it in their community, which is.
[00:07:55] Deanna Kitchen: Just so incredible. So I wanna take a minute and just give a little bit of context when we're talking about holiday cheer. The holiday cheer challenge, um, holiday cheer campaign is what we called it for a while. It's what, what that started with was this idea that we could keep giving even when the flowers were not blooming.
[00:08:13] Deanna Kitchen: And it actually was started with this little giving camp started smaller giving campaign from our family's farm. And I realize when I say smaller, I'm like, we did 200 bouquets the first year, but we. But it was what we used, what we had. We had this massive amount of greens that I had left over from another project I had done, and we figured that we could take 'em to where some cheer and kindness was most needed in our community.
[00:08:36] Deanna Kitchen: And to us, that was a food bank. And so what that became was this local campaign that grew and grew over time. Going from 200 bouquets to, at the height of COVID, we delivered 700 bouquets to our local food bank to be able to give families who are coming in need with, for food, with a little bit of beauty and the like, brightness and cheer of the holiday season as well.
[00:08:57] Deanna Kitchen: And then what happened really quickly was what we saw was there's this opportunity to invite more people in and help them do the same thing, just like you did with your students. So we created the resource kit, um, to be able to share with anybody at any time. And I love. That you took it into your classroom, and I hope there are teachers listening today who feel empowered to do the same.
[00:09:16] Deanna Kitchen: So, Amy, at this point, what year are you in, um, doing the holiday cheer challenge with your students? We
[00:09:23] Amy Morrison: are technically in year five. We're in year four of what? It looks like today, like together in person, all of that. That first year was that COVID virtual year. So yeah, we're going on five.
[00:09:35] Deanna Kitchen: Absolutely incredible.
[00:09:36] Deanna Kitchen: So can you break down for us a little bit of your processes and how this looks in the classroom setting? How are you getting kids, um, to come alongside and be excited about this giving opportunity? How are you managing the logistics this year? I think your goal was to share. 300 arrangements with local.
[00:09:55] Deanna Kitchen: We're trying for four. Amazing. We're gonna see how we get there. Amazing. So, 400 arrangements in your local community. Um, these are gonna be going to individuals who are really either isolated or just in need of a little bit of extra cheer, right? So this year your, your students will be making and giving to
[00:10:12] Amy Morrison: the local food bank friendship house, which is kind of a family shelter.
[00:10:17] Amy Morrison: There's also a women's shelter division of that that we hit. And then we're doing an elderly care facility in our neighborhood as well, and we're doing it with them. So we're going to them and actually arranging with them as an FFA social activity too. That's new this year. I'm so excited. I, my heart just like
[00:10:32] Deanna Kitchen: had a little leap because there is nothing more beautiful than actually getting to make those connections in person.
[00:10:39] Deanna Kitchen: I really cannot wait. I cannot wait to hear what your students experience is in that. That is going to be something they take away and hold onto forever. So. Help us know. How do you, how do you make this work in your classroom at this level? If we have a classroom teacher listening in right now, or maybe someone who is a Girl Scout leader or has another group of kids that are just ready to be activated and get involved in giving back, I think.
[00:11:06] Amy Morrison: Any group that does community service leadership type things already, this is totally applicable to you. I obviously do a little bit more because I teach floral and teach greenhouse plants, landscaping, things like that. It does not need to be as de as deep or as complicated as I make it. We literally just do what you do.
[00:11:24] Amy Morrison: We take your your cheer challenge kit, and I use it in the classroom almost like a lesson plan. And so about a month ago I broached the subject with my students saying, Hey, like. We're going to get involved in this community service project called the Growing Kindness Project. We do it every year now, so it's kind of a tradition, but the very first year, I think I just really keyed in on it's a volunteer opportunity.
[00:11:46] Amy Morrison: It's a way to give back to our community. You guys all know how good that feels. You've done. Something like that in your life, no matter how big or small. And so we're gonna make this a class assignment and let's see what we can do with it, right? Like we make arrangements in class for ourselves and to give to our family members.
[00:12:03] Amy Morrison: We're gonna do the same thing around the holiday time to give to somebody in need in our own community. So for about the last three weeks to four, we've been collecting cans. Uh, so these are just like. Legit soup cans, bean cans, whatever you've got from the kitchen. Um, I just want them with no holes so I can use them as a vase.
[00:12:22] Amy Morrison: We take the label off. If the kid didn't do it already, we're gonna clean it up a little bit. I just threw this together with a kid today so I could show it to you.
[00:12:28] Deanna Kitchen: I love that. And if, if, to, to clarify, it's a just exactly what you would throw in the recycle can after you made a can of soup. Yeah. And that's exactly what I
[00:12:38] Amy Morrison: say.
[00:12:38] Amy Morrison: Just
[00:12:38] Deanna Kitchen: bring in your recycling.
[00:12:39] Amy Morrison: We're gonna it. Totally. And
[00:12:41] Deanna Kitchen: you've just taken it and embellished it with wrapping a ribbon and you just hot glue the ribbons on, I'm assuming?
[00:12:47] Amy Morrison: Yeah, literally. Um, Costco for the ribbon, they have it super early. I buy it like I think back to school time when I, whenever I see it.
[00:12:54] Amy Morrison: 'cause you get the first pick, big old rolls for like 10, $12. It'll last. So much. So I literally just wrap it in either hot glue or we use like those scrapbook kind of photo double-sided stickers just to make it quick. Oh yeah. Smart. That way it's just dressed up a little bit. Could you get away with it?
[00:13:09] Amy Morrison: Nice, clean and simple. Yeah. But that's all we do to it as our vase. Then the next part comes with a little bit of help from you, but anybody can do this. Just trying to resource greenery branches, material. Um, I know other schools that have been making like Christmas race for years and they just take a Saturday.
[00:13:27] Amy Morrison: And, and venture out to neighboring farms. Some people go and pot, uh, buy the permit that you can do the national parks with anybody that's pruning the greenery. I get offered Holly from so many coworkers nowadays, or even the, um, curly willow twigs or blueberry branches, those kinds of things. So we try to source all of that.
[00:13:47] Amy Morrison: To some sort of a delivery day. And then now that we've been doing it for so long, we actually have some alumni and some coworkers, booster club members that are like, Hey, do you need some money for the projects to make it a little bit more fun? And so we buy wholesale flowers, carnations, simple little things just to embellish it a little bit more.
[00:14:04] Amy Morrison: And bring the floral design aspect to it, but it definitely doesn't mean it. We've put pine cones in them before we've taken little ornaments that I'll buy like the day after Christmas from Target when they're super cheap and throw 'em in there too as embellishment. I've had people bring those picks that are in bouquets, we'll reuse those, whatever you can find, honestly.
[00:14:23] Amy Morrison: And we just fill 'em up just like little Posey arrangements so we can cram 'em into a crate and get them to the site. So there's kids that are doing. The collection of the cans and even the promo for it now, so kids are involved in that too, just to get the project out there. The greenery day is together.
[00:14:38] Amy Morrison: That's community service. The making in the classroom of the arrangements and then the delivery, that honestly is the best day. Of the whole project because the kids are like, they're seeing the reaction from a lot of the guests. We don't get to be there for food bank distribution day, but for the shelters we get to meet some people.
[00:14:55] Amy Morrison: We get to meet people that are involved in the process and that's really like truly the best feeling to see your hard work pay off.
[00:15:01] Deanna Kitchen: Absolutely. How does it feel to watch your students become the givers, like to see them take ownership of kindness?
[00:15:08] Amy Morrison: It really is like one of my best, my best days in the classroom, my best feeling because.
[00:15:14] Amy Morrison: For teachers, like that light bulb moment when a kid gets a topic is a huge feeling. But for us at the tail end, like in high school, more so I think than elementary, I don't know, maybe, maybe elementary feels this way. Just to see that like human, you are ready to be a good citizen. And you get it. Like you get what being a good human and what your job is on this planet, right?
[00:15:35] Amy Morrison: Like you have a purpose, you're putting it to good, you're sharing free Willy. Like, yes, I am making it an assignment. But at the end of the project, most of them, it clicks the full. Okay. Yeah. That's why we're doing this, and this is the difference we're making. It's not just the one person getting it, it's their whole family gets to experience it.
[00:15:54] Amy Morrison: And so you see that multiplier figure and we talk about it at the beginning. Of, yes, we're gonna make 400, but it's more than that. It's the ripple effect. And now it's not just us too. We have neighboring schools in our area. And then the other cool thing is I hear from the kids that are returners or I have two seniors that graduated last year that are coming back to help out on our FFA day at the el, at the elderly care facility.
[00:16:18] Amy Morrison: And that, that keeps happening. And so what I think I know is happening also is that kids that have experienced it once in my room. Are doing it to whatever level they can on their own as well. And so that makes me feel good too. That's That's what your whole,
[00:16:35] Deanna Kitchen: that gives me a lump in my throat. Like just to think about that, right?
[00:16:39] Deanna Kitchen: Like
[00:16:39] Amy Morrison: that's the point.
[00:16:41] Deanna Kitchen: Yeah. It's so much more like it's planting this seed, and that's always been the hope and dream for the growing kindness movement is that we can help plant seeds that then grow on their own and then they send out more seeds and to know that it's happening in students, especially students.
[00:16:56] Deanna Kitchen: You know, your kids' ages that are, they're really getting ready to walk into the world on their own and they're getting ready to be citizens of communities and, and to know that they're walking away with this, just this idea. That there's something I can do to make a difference. It just is so beautiful
[00:17:13] Amy Morrison: and it doesn't have to be this big complicated thing.
[00:17:15] Amy Morrison: Like I really try to like preach the message of start where you are, use what you can. 'cause that's all it is. It's cans donated from recycling. It's greenery that we're chopped down anyways, and we're just repurposing it. And when you take a little bit of time and put some heart into it, what beautiful stuff comes out of it.
[00:17:33] Amy Morrison: And so if they can learn that now and proceed, that's really, that's my biggest
[00:17:38] Deanna Kitchen: goal. I love this. I love ev every bit of this, Amy, like it's, i, it, it makes my heart so happy to, to see the ways that the impacts carrying out. And all it takes is one person taking the initiative to take the lead, and that's what you've done in your classroom.
[00:17:53] Deanna Kitchen: And I just. It's a beautiful thing to think about how many students, and then eventually how many generations get to be impacted by that.
[00:18:01] Amy Morrison: Like if you think about that in the last four years, there's easily, especially between now all our local FFA programs that keep coming and doing, we're talking, there's probably even that ripple effect in the kids.
[00:18:12] Amy Morrison: There's probably a close to 3000 of them now that have done this.
[00:18:15] Deanna Kitchen: When you stop and think about in some way, shape, or
[00:18:17] Amy Morrison: form, when you stop and think about it, I mean imagine another five years from now, we're gonna be in. Well, crazy numbers of people that have been exposed to this kind of love is what it is.
[00:18:30] Amy Morrison: Mm-hmm. You know, and then where they take that in their adult life, that's, that's all I could ever wish for. I'm like, okay, we're good. We get the whole
[00:18:38] Deanna Kitchen: podcast done. Yeah. I mean, it's just so, it's so, I honestly makes me swallow a lump in my throat. It's
[00:18:44] Amy Morrison: big. It's so small, but it's so big. Like when you really think about it, and that's what I really want the kids to get to.
[00:18:49] Amy Morrison: I want it to click with them that like. This thing that takes us five, 10 minutes one day in class, like it takes a lot to prep, don't get me wrong, but the day that we make the arrangement, it's really only five, 10 minutes. It's a simple one, but the exposure for them and the the payoff to the person getting it, that's a memory for both of them.
[00:19:12] Amy Morrison: That it's a core memory for both of them that hopefully makes a larger impact. For everybody in the world.
[00:19:19] Deanna Kitchen: Mm-hmm. Absolutely. Could not agree more. So Amy, I would love to hear, well, like the question that I really wanna ask is, have you seen certain students like really light up or transformed through this process?
[00:19:31] Deanna Kitchen: Has there been any really standout stories that stay with you?
[00:19:34] Amy Morrison: I have a student that graduated a couple years ago that connected. With flowers in a different way than I've seen any other kid so far since her. There are a couple more following suits, so I don't know what I'm doing. All of a sudden that's like making this magic happen.
[00:19:51] Amy Morrison: Um, but for her it was, so we do grow in kindness. We go away for winter break and then we come back in January. When we came back in January, I showed pictures of that first delivery day. 'cause that year I didn't take the kids with me. I hadn't planned that part out yet. And so I was like, I know you guys really wanna go.
[00:20:08] Amy Morrison: I'm so sorry. We can't do it during school time, et cetera, whatever it was for drop off. And so I took pictures of the places I went and the people and the amount, like kind of seeing the en mass that we had done. And so when we got back in class in January, I showed them the pictures and kind of did a little debrief and like I made them write like a journal entry, kind of a reflection of the experience from start to finish and talk about what steps they were involved in and what kind of a difference it made for them and what kind of a difference they think it made in the community.
[00:20:36] Amy Morrison: Because some of them took it more serious than others. Like some just showed up on arrangement day and others really put in the effort to bring in the cans and do all the things. And so I was reading them a week or two later. And kind of putting two and two together for what I was witnessing in my classroom all along that I just hadn't really keyed in on yet.
[00:20:53] Amy Morrison: And, um, for one of my students, this was something that she connected to receiving help and aid from places like the food bank or for a lot of our kids in elementary times, they were gifted like the winter coats. And it was like, it was that secretive, but like. In a community service way. And so for her, she'd already connected with flowers and really was getting into floral design and what can I do in this path?
[00:21:22] Amy Morrison: And then to have that experience, which was a core memory for her from her younger years, she wrote all about. How good it made her feel to be able to give back at this point that she thought it was still gonna be years later when she was an adult and had a job and can make money. And here she was, a 13, 14-year-old, able to already give back in a different way.
[00:21:43] Amy Morrison: And she saw that as, oh, like I don't have to use money to give back. I can use my talents. I can do this in other ways. And so. I think a few other kids wrote similarly, but hers was so eloquent with her story that it made me tear up when I read it. And so we've had several conversations since then about how I, I wish she could share it to all my kids every year.
[00:22:07] Amy Morrison: Just like a people here, community service sometimes. And I think it just has a bad rap because we've used it in lots of different ways in our society, and so they. Do they think of it? Yes, it's a positive, but for some people it is a negative. It's a punishment. Or if you're receiving it, sometimes you're just not in the place where receiving it is a happy thing.
[00:22:28] Amy Morrison: And, and I try to say that when I'm teaching, same thing with like, okay, we're doing this during the holiday time. Tons of organizations do things during the holiday time. How else can we use this later in the year to do similarly? Because that's when people really need it, when the, when the holidays are over, right?
[00:22:44] Amy Morrison: And so. I really like her story because it really pushes forward. You don't need anything, you just need you and your heart and there's, there's some way that you can make a difference in, in somebody else's life, every day, really. And so I really liked how she connected those two things together. And for her full circle, it just, it made her realize that it also didn't take much for the person giving her those things either.
[00:23:08] Amy Morrison: Like it wasn't such a out of the way. Burden. She really thought at that stage that she was a burden, and so it's not a burden to give. It's not a burden to receive. It's really just all about love and spreading that kindness.
[00:23:21] Deanna Kitchen: Amy? Yeah. How absolutely empowering to give her that opportunity and through that opportunity for her to come to this realization.
[00:23:31] Deanna Kitchen: And there's such a liberty in that to kind of be freed from this feeling of, of guilt or not being enough to be able to recognize, to accept freely, and to be able to give freely. That's just absolutely empowering. I'm so thankful that there are teachers like you who are giving students these incredible experiences to help them step in more to who they are and step more into their communities and being engaged and connected with their communities.
[00:24:04] Deanna Kitchen: You really, honestly have answered, I think, all of. My other que. I mean, this is so good. This is so good. Just like as it is, you're doing beautifully. Um, this is the fun part. I'm like, I just get to mostly sit back and hear pure inspiration. Like honestly, this podcast is keeping me, is like an ivy of like motivation right now when I get to sit and hear these stories, because I walk out and I'm like, okay, yeah, the work we're doing matters, you know.
[00:24:28] Deanna Kitchen: And for you, I mean, the work that you are doing in the classroom matters so much, and I think that in a season where it can feel. Like, I mean, as a former teacher in, in a season where you're coming outta conferences and it just feels like there's so many expectations and so many pressures on what you have available to, you know, what, what you have available as resources to use in the classroom and how you motivate the kids towards these bigger ideas and these, these bigger lessons.
[00:24:59] Deanna Kitchen: It's just really cool to see the way that you have brought this into your students and empowered them with it. Can you share a little bit more about how your kids get to be personally connected to this? I know you mentioned that some of your students, or is it all of your students get to go on delivery day?
[00:25:16] Amy Morrison: Just some of them. I have like three different floral design classes and then our FFA club is involved too, so I just do little groups. So a group of about 10 to 15 will go to the elderly care facility. A group about the same will get to go to, uh, delivery drop off day as well. So it's just whoever signs up for it first gets permission slips turned in, but they're excited too.
[00:25:37] Amy Morrison: So it's, it's kind of a fight for it right now. Yeah. Like, sorry, there's only 10 spots. Whoever gets them in first gets to go.
[00:25:45] Deanna Kitchen: I love that. It's like it's the exclusive opportunity to go, go help other people. Yeah, it's huge, right? I think that having high school students clamoring to get, have a chance to serve in their community is.
[00:25:57] Deanna Kitchen: An absolute worthy goal to aspire to. So what about the other kids who don't get to have the opportunity for the Golden Ticket to be in that delivery or arrangement workshop with the seniors? What are the ways that they get to connect and kind of. Make this personal for them.
[00:26:15] Amy Morrison: So when we do the arrangement day, we also use the growing Kindness movement tags, and so we will attach them with rubber band to the top of the can, and I tell them they have to write a personalized message on the tag.
[00:26:27] Amy Morrison: Some of them do more than others, but that's a way for them to practice. Like saying something in a cheerful way. I tell 'em, it doesn't even have to be holiday related. Just could be something like, I hope you have a great day. Um, you know, Mount Vernon High School students made this with love and kindness.
[00:26:43] Amy Morrison: I tell kids they can write in a different language. We have a lot of Spanish and Ukrainian and Russian speakers in our, in our community, and so we'll have kids write messages in those languages, which is really nice. Some of them get really cute and they'll doodle and draw on them. Even the high. Coolers like to do that.
[00:26:57] Amy Morrison: I've had a couple of kids even bring in like stickers and make 'em super cute. So they're artsy. They like to be artsy. So this thing that takes five, 10 minutes, it can take the whole period if you want it to. It really can. I love that. It can
[00:27:09] Deanna Kitchen: be as simple or as elaborate as you'd like, but what, what a beautiful way for kids to see that connection.
[00:27:17] Deanna Kitchen: That they get to take credit for the kindness that they're sharing, but also that the recipient. Of that arrangement knows that a real person, a real person, cared about you. A real person made this. And how even more inspiring would that be to receive something that a student took, you know, took the time and care to make for another.
[00:27:38] Deanna Kitchen: So I. That's so, so inspiring. All right, Amy. I hope that everyone listening today, if they are a Girl Scout leader, if they have a kids book club, if they are a homeschool co-op. If they're a classroom teacher feels inspired to try spreading some holiday cheer by gathering some evergreens. Grabbing some soup cans or whatever it may be, and getting kids involved with this beautiful, inspiring work of giving back in their communities.
[00:28:09] Deanna Kitchen: If people wanna follow along, I know I sure will be over the next few weeks. I can't wait to see this unfold in your classroom with your students. What's the best place for us to find you and follow along with this?
[00:28:21] Amy Morrison: We're posting on our FFA Club page, so it's at Mount Vernon FFA on Instagram and Facebook.
[00:28:28] Amy Morrison: And then I post a little bit on my personal farm page, the farmer's daughter as well.
[00:28:32] Deanna Kitchen: Awesome. We'll link those in the show notes flow, so if anybody wants to just grab it there, it will be there. Amy, this was absolutely inspiring to get to hear your story and the beautiful work that you're doing with your students in your classroom.
[00:28:43] Deanna Kitchen: Thank you for taking the time to be here today. As we close, there's one thing that I love to ask everyone. Um, you highlighted so beautifully for us that we never know how lasting even one small act of kindness would be. What's a time that someone shared an act of kindness with you that you still carry in your heart today?
[00:29:01] Amy Morrison: I was going through a real rough patch a couple years ago as a teacher. We have these cards called put up cards that our school does at staff meetings, and it's just to write a, a nice kind message to put somebody up. We've done it for students, we've done it for staff, and I got one, literally like the day that I was like crying in my classroom, thought I was the worst teacher ever.
[00:29:22] Amy Morrison: It was from a teacher that I had when I was a student. And so to see in their words from their perspective. How much of an impact I was actually making was very inspiring and very meaningful for me. Kind of a full circle moment to, from that teacher student to being a teacher alongside them. So that was, that was very, pick me up.
[00:29:45] Deanna Kitchen: We never know how much a small act of kindness is gonna lift somebody up and how long they'll carry it with them. And there are, Amy, thank you for being here today. It's truly been an honor and we can't wait to follow along and see all the ways you're spreading kindness in our community this holiday season.
[00:30:08] Deanna Kitchen: Thank you so much for listening to the Growing Kindness Podcast. It means the world that you take the time to be here every time you show up, every time you listen in, community grows. If today's episode encouraged you, there are a few simple ways to keep growing kindness with us. First, you can join the team.
[00:30:23] Deanna Kitchen: When you become a growing kindness gardener, you link arms with like-minded like-hearted people from all around the world who believe that small acts of kindness really do make a big difference. As a gardener, you'll receive access to resources, inspiration, and connection to help you grow and give flowers is acts of kindness in your corner of the world.
[00:30:41] Deanna Kitchen: It's for you to join. Another way to get involved is to become a donor. This podcast is made possible by the generosity of our donors. Kindhearted people who believe just like you, that stories of goodness are worth sharing. If you'd like to help us share more stories, just like today's visit growing kindness project.org/donate to make a gift and keep kindness planning, we'd love to stay connected with you.
[00:31:04] Deanna Kitchen: You can sign up for our newsletter or find us on Instagram at Growing Kindness Project. We'd love to keep in touch and cheer you on as you grow kindness in your community. And finally. If this episode touched your heart, would you share it with a friend? It's one of the simplest ways to spread kindness today.
[00:31:19] Deanna Kitchen: I'm so grateful you're here. Until next time, keep growing kindness one at a time.
