Grace’s Group

The Story

Grace’s Group is bringing The Be Kind People Project full circle back to its origin. Grace Campbell was six years old and entering school in 2011 as a child with special needs and a rare condition –Kabuki Syndrome –that caused physical, developmental, and behavioral implications. At the time she was entering school, The Be Kind Pledge was being developed for hundreds of thousands of students. The skills of The Be Kind Pledge were developed with Grace in mind. Its attributes compile interpersonal relationship skills that represent how an ideal environment in a school would be for Grace, with the thoughts that if even the children most marginalized were treated with dignity and kindness, then the culture of kindness and respect for others would permeate the behavior for all children, improving the overall learning environment. Grace Campbell was the granddaughter of the Founder of The Be Kind People Project.

Grace Campbell passed away on the last day of 2020 from a heart infection exacerbated by a congenital heart condition caused by Kabuki Syndrome. Grace was four days past her 16th birthday. Although Grace’s abilities were limited throughout her short life, she made a lifetime of friends, understood what it meant to be kind to others, danced with uninhibited joy, accepted each person with love and absent of judgment, and made a lifetime impact on those who knew her positive and accepting spirit.

Grace’s Group combines character education, arts expression, inclusion… and kindness.

Grace’s Group

Services that provide kindness, presence, and hope for students with special needs.

The foundation of the work of The Be Kind People Project is based on the pro-active and positive principles of The Be Kind Pledge –Be supportive, positive, encouraging, helpful, honest, thankful, considerate, respectful, responsible, and be a friend. These fundamental values of human relationships and societal civility form the cornerstone for how to be kind people –and kindness goes to the core of how people honor, respect, communicate with, and honor one another. This human value can be given –and felt when it is received –by every person, regardless of age, background, culture, or ability. Kindness shown to others is the truest example of inclusion.

The Be Kind People Project is beginning Grace’s Group in the fall of 2021 with a curriculum of character education written specifically for children with special needs. In fact, the curriculum is being written by teachers who loved Grace and impacted her life. Teachers from elementary school, middle school, and high school will participate in writing programs that will be meaningful to the children at the time of delivery and can also be continued in the classroom after its introduction. The special education (SPED) teachers will also provide training to select members of THE BE KIND CREW as facilitators of character education for children with special needs.

The children in SPED classes in schools that have BE KIND CREW Assemblies will:

Be invited to BE KIND CREW all-school interactive and high energy assemblies
Receive a special visit by members of THE BE KIND CREW
Experience music and kinesthetic learning
Receive recognition and CREW materials and supplies.
Get monthly videos highlighting dance moves and a skill of The Be Kind Pledge
Receive BE KIND Break Premium curriculum that promotes respect and inclusion

As a parent of a child with special needs, I was thrilled that my son’s campus had such a program to help students learn how to be kind to others as it was always my fear that he would not make friends. I didn’t realize it was more than just The Be Kind Pledge until I began working on his campus as a paraeducator. Now that I’m a special education teacher, I would love to bring this program to my campus.