Everyone needs a little kindness.
And during the recent pandemic, people were forced to isolate and being alone became something everyone experienced.
For one young boy, he decided there had to be a way to help those who were alone.
So Connor Wright started a non-profit organization, Connor’s Kindness Project (CKP). He was just 12 at the time.
“We just started really small. We did some COVID care baskets for kids in our community that were quarantining. We did nurses baskets,” Connor said.
He wanted to do more, so Connor made kindness kits for children, typically between the ages of 5 and 12, in Boston, Mass., near where he lived.
“(It was) filled with all of these cool high quality, trendy toys and items,” he said. The kit had Lego sets, Etch-A-Sketches, Play-Doh and more.
Connor Wright prepares his kindness kits to be delivered to kids in need of friendship. Photo courtesy of CKP
Since its creation, CKP has delivered more than 5,000 kits to more than 30 locations across Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Hampshire.
When we’ve had the opportunity to go into some of the places and see the kids open the kits and see how happy they are to receive it,” Connor said.
“One particular parent said it was the first time that his daughter smiled in a week. When she opened the kindness kit. So, I don’t know. Everything that he’s done has amazed me,” said Sharon Marrama, his grandmother.
Sharon serves as CKP’s executive director. She and Connor have expanded the nonprofit and are now working with elementary schools on after-school programs that teach children ways to give kindness to others. Children then pledge to help, and are given a list of 30 acts of kindness and asked to complete 20 of them.
“I think that one of the biggest things that we want to come out of the Kindness Club is letting other kids see what a kid can do,” Sharon said.
Connor Wright, and his grandmother, Sharon Marrama, stand at their Kindness table at an event. Photo courtesy of CKP
From volunteering to making a new friend at school, the goal is to guide children into helping make a kinder world.
“We’re hoping that will inspire them to do more and maybe even start another nonprofit, too,” Connor said.
Hopefully, he said, they will see the “ripple effect” nature of these good deeds.
“We knew this was something that could turn into something big,” Connor said. “We also, like, learned a lot together about what we can do in the future,” noting he is “fortunate” to be in the position he’s in, from seeing the needs of others.
“I keep seeing what we’re able to do and how much we’re able to help and that just inspires me and pushes me to want to do even more,” Connor said.
Watch below to learn about CKP and Connor’s goal of teaching the world how to be a bit kinder.
