Calgary Youth Dedicated to Creating Chain Links of Kindness

The Calgary Police Service Community and Youth Services Section and YouthLink Calgary Police Interpretive Centre work diligently to ensure Calgary kids are aware of issues they will face and how to make good decisions to stay safe now and in the future.

YouthLink’s programming focusses on five primary issues kids today need to know about:  drugs, gangs, online safety, bullying and healthy relationships. However, YouthLink and the police can only do so much. They rely heavily on their community partners to reinforce this information and communicate it with all youth in a variety of ways.

One excellent example of this type of partnership at work has been undertaken by the Foundations for the Future Charter Academy (FFCA) with their Rachel’s Challenge initiative. Over the past year, elementary school children from FFCA’s four campuses pledged to start a chain reaction of kindness. The students and parents of FFCA’s campuses have created a chain of over 40,000 links of kindness. Each time an act of kindness was witnessed by a student, teacher or parent, a colourful, paper link was made describing the act.

These links have been on display at the schools throughout the school year and will be brought together tomorrow, Thursday, May 15, 2014, at a school rally being held at Max Bell Arena.

This initiative is based on a challenge issued by a young girl, Rachel Scott, whose life was tragically cut short in the Columbine High School shooting on April 20, 1999. Rachel Joy Scott had challenged her peers to prove her theory that “If one person will go out of their way to show compassion, then it will start a chain reaction of the same.” This challenge has taken on a life of its own across North America, since Rachel’s passing.

To learn more about Rachel’s Challenge visit:  http://www.rachelschallenge.org/.

To learn more about the Foundations for the Future Charter Academy and their involvement in this initiative, please contact Midge Levson, Principal, Northeast Campus, Foundations for the Future Charter Academy 403-520-5456.