ADA, Mich. — An initiative launched this week by a Forest Hills elementary school aims to build a nicer, more empathetic community and honor three children connected to the school who have died in recent years.
‘Kindness for All’ was created by the Ada Elementary School PTO board this past spring.
“So often we do things for students, but this is going to encompass our families, our neighborhood,” said Melanie Hoeksema, the Ada Elementary School principal.
According to Hoeksema, the PTO board will fund a series of projects through Kindness for All.
Some of the initial projects include:
- Adding painted designs to the playground blacktop with games kids can play together, positive phases and sensory activities
- Adding self-affirmations, positive messages and artwork to classrooms and public restrooms
- Renaming and increasing the school’s emergency fund to help with smaller needs while also remaining available to help with larger, urgent needs
- Asking members of the community to help when families need a pick-me-up with cookies, a card or a simple check-in
- Funding small kindness projects for the community at large and encouraging classrooms to come up with their own ideas
“Kindness is something that I think is so important in our world right now,” said Hoeksema. “I'm excited to just start spreading it throughout our school community, to our families, and just really leaning into that positive message for our kids and modeling that for future generations.”
Each letter in "all" represents a member of the school’s community who spread joy before they passed away:
- The “A” stands for Audrey Jandrnoa. She died in January 2018 from RSV at age five. Her family has since launched the Red Glasses Movement.
- The first “L” stands for Lucas VanSprange. The 15-year-old, who was once an Ada Elementary school student, died in January 2015 after being hit by a car. “Live Like Lucas” was created to channel his energy after his death.
- The second “L” stands for Luke Balstad, the son of Ada Elementary School's former principal, Kim VanAntwerp. He died in November 2022 and was known to leave notes for the school’s teachers when he was visiting and helping out at various events.
“[He was]very intellectual,” said VanAntwerp. “He was a sophomore at Harvard, but it wasn't that that made him stand out. It was his ability to walk into a room and find somebody that might need a kind act. He would feed the displaced community downtown or work with tutoring people, leaving notes— He used to come here with me and I didn’t even know he would do it, but when we were delivering things to teacher’s rooms, he would leave them little notes.”
VanAntwerp says her family is grateful for Luke’s legacy to continue on through Kindness for All.
She hopes it creates positivity within the community and among students.
“This is what mattered for Luke,” said VanAntwerp. “The flashy didn't matter for Luke. In fact, he never even had a graduation party, and if anybody needed a graduation party, it'd be Luke, but that's not what Luke was about. This would mean a lot.”
An auction will be held on Friday to raise money for Kindness for All.
To purchase tickets or donate to the initiative, click here.
