When then-12-year-old Connor Wright, of Lynnfield, started to complete small acts of kindness in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, he had no idea the impact he would ultimately have.
From small acts of kindness, to assisting other already established nonprofits with collection drives, Connor and his grandmother, Sharon Marrama, then formally launched Connor’s Kindness Project, their own official nonprofit. Their first initiative was the creation of the Kindness Kit, a red box that is full of trending, quality, educational and comforting toys/items that are given to children in difficult or challenging medical, mental health or housing insecurity situations. In just over two years, the dynamic duo has delivered nearly 6,000 kits to hospitals and shelters throughout New England.
Once Connor had his finger on the pulse of the organization’s first initiative and it began running smoothly, he wanted to add programming for elementary-aged school children to inspire them to be kind and inclusive, care for others and introduce them to community service and giving back. After a couple of brainstorming sessions with his grandmother and mother, Erica Wright, The Kids Kindness Club was born.
The Kindness Club is an enrichment program for schools based on the goals that Connor devised. The program also acts as an antibullying tool in schools and the community, without using these words. In 2023 alone, 24 schools launched the program and 9,200 students completed 196,000 acts of kindness. Given the magnitude of these numbers, the Kindness Club is gaining traction and the team at CKP is excited for its growth as corporations, organizations and school systems are sponsoring the program to bring it to their own communities.
Ronnie Hoey, founder and executive director of Project Kompass, first met Marrama, now CKP executive director, when they were taking a nonprofit class together. The two instantly became friends and cheerleaders of one another’s missions. So, it was no surprise that when Hoey learned about the Kids Kindness Club, she realized the impact it could have in her community and reached out to Marrama to sponsor it at the Shaughnessy Elementary School in Lowell.
“Individually we do great things, but collectively we do amazing things!” Hoey states. “We all have similar missions but different approaches — from housing, to self-care, to fostering kindness — our main goals are to improve the lives of others. And by supporting each other’s organizations we are able to cross-pollinate our strengths and ultimately touch the lives of many more to come.”
What happened next is amazing. During the live launch, a CKP representative, in this case Marrama, talked to the students about kindness, showed a video of Connor talking about his launch of CKP, introduced a kindness pledge that the entire school takes together, and (among other fun interactive activities) challenged the students to each complete 20 acts of kindness from a list.
“When I showed the video of Connor, the students all perked up and listened,” Marrama said. “Little did I know that first grade student, Chase Bettencourt, was already brainstorming on how he was going to impactfully complete the challenges.”
Chase decided to collect change for kids with cancer in memory of a classmate who recently lost her battle to cancer. He collected $711 and it was matched by Hoey and Project Kompass.
The group, including Connor, Marrama, Chase and his family, Hoey, and Maggie Carter, a social worker from the Shaughnessy School, all came together at Dragon Fly Café in Lowell to meet with café owner Sherri Sarrouf — who also happens to own SLS Fitness and is the founder of Fitness for a Cure — to deliver the proceeds of Chase’s “Cents for Cancer” collection and honor him for his efforts.
All involved saw the ripple effect of an act of kindness and proof that one small act can make a difference. From Connor’s initiative; to Hoey’s sponsorship; to the Shaughnessy School’s Kindness Club launch; to Chase’s Coins for Cancer collection, to Fitness for a Cure, to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, the final stop of the donation, this is a full-circle story.
You can follow Connor’s Kindness Project on social media and their website, connorskindnessproject.org. To learn more about Project Kompass and the impact they make in the communities they serve, visit projectkompass.org.
