HIALEAH, Fla. – After a month of learning about — and performing — random acts of kindness, a group of students at a Hialeah elementary school received acts of kindness themselves Wednesday morning.
The organization Buddy’s Helpers gifted scooters to 75 second-graders at North Twin Lakes Elementary School. Money for the scooters came all the way from student-athletes in the Chicago area.
“It was the best surprise,” second-grader Valentina said.
Meanwhile, student-athletes at Hialeah-Miami Lakes Senior High School helped hand them out.
“I’m just glad to see that they’re able to have fun and have this gift, have these scooters as a ‘thank you’ for everything that they do and all the kind deeds that they’ve done,” student-athlete Jasmine Martinez said.
Jose Fernandez, the principal at North Twin Lakes, said with about 30% of the school’s students in the country for two years or less, “it’s going to be a phenomenal experience.”
One student, Hazel, said she received a scooter because she “helped somebody when they were sad.”
Staff members were also treated to a sponsored lunch as the students rolled out of Random Acts of Kindness Month.
“We’ve been talking about kindness for a while now and I hope that they remember this experience moving forward so that it creates positive behavior in the future,” school counselor Kaylin Miller said.
The donation also served as a lesson to the student-athletes: They can make a big impact off-the-field, as well as on it.