 Kid Kindness
Letters
A Letter from Oprah Winfrey
January 19, 1999
Dear Students,
Thank you for writing and watching The Oprah Winfrey Show.
I truly applaud your efforts in your kindness campaign. Continue working hard in
school and remember, nothing empowers a strong heart more than a strong mind.
Wishing you the best,
Oprah Winfrey
A Letter from Iowa's First Lady
January 25, 1999
Dear Mr. Ortman,
I'm sorry it took so long for me to send
our reply about Kerby. I tried to get to your web page but failed so I'll use the
more conventional letter. Our niece Jenny is a 4th grader at Van Allen Elementary
and our nephew Sam, is in first grade at Van Allen in Mt. Pleasant. Both classes
invited us to visit on election day before we left for Des Moines. We had so much
fun answering their questions, we almost forgot how nervous we were.
When Kerby arrived, he sat on our dining room
table for a few weeks, and when Jenny or Sam stopped in they'd give him a hug. After
the election we found out my dad was dying of cancer and spent the next six weeks taking
care of him until he died on Christmas Day. We didn't get our act of kindness done
until after Christmas. By this time both Jenny and Sam adored Kerby and so Tom and I
decided to introduce your kindness campaign to the kids in their classes. So
inauguration week, we took red, white and blue cupcakes with red V's to Van Allen for
snacks, and left two books for the Van Allen library. One, A View From Saturday,
won the Newberry Award last year, and I thought that would be appropriate for the 4th
graders. The other, Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening is a book that
illustrates Robert Frost's poem. That was one of my dad's favorite poems.
Anyway, I read to both classes. Then Sam and I shared some stories his grandad told
him about his childhood. Sam, at six, is a masterful storyteller, like his grandad.
I've just had to interrupt this writing because
Jenny and Sam stopped in after school to deliver thank you notes. Their classes are
still deciding together where Kerby will go next, but they will report to me as well as
your students.
Our son Jess is leaving for second semester in
Australia, so I imagine he'll see some kangaroos first-hand. He'll be going to
school in Sydney and will spend a week of orientation in the outback.
Your kindness campaign is such a good idea.
Once again, I apologize for taking so long in communicating. You can imagine
that I use my note pad and pen to leave messages for everyone around here, now that I'm
trying to manage two homes.
Sincerely,
Christie Vilsack
A Letter from Mt. Pleasant, Iowa
February 25, 1999
Greetings from Mt. Pleasant, Iowa to Rock
Valley and Starkweather Elementary School!! We apologize for holding Kirby so
long! He was given to two classes at Van Allen Elementary School (a first grade and
a fourth grade) by Governor and Mrs. Tom Vilsack in mid-January. We were thrilled to
receive him! The two classes decided on an appropriate destination for Kirby, but it
took several discussions to agree. Iowa weather also delayed our decisions because
we had some unscheduled time off! We sent Kirby to Rio Rancho, New Mexico. A
good friend teaches in that district, which is just outside of Albuquerque. Her name is
Donna Rupp. She will take good care of Kirby and send him along to another sensitive
caretaker. Our random act of kindness to Ms. Rupp was to send homemade valentines to
make her February 14th celebration more fun! She left our school district just last
year, so many of the students knew her. It was delightful for them to correspond
with her. Your project is just fabulous. We were honored to be a part of
Kirby's travels this school year. We'd love to know about his other
"homes" during the year and the acts of kindness he has inspired.
Kindly yours,
Pat Heusmann (4th grade) and Tami Roth (1st grade)
Van Allen School
801 E. Henry Street
Mt. Pleasant, Iowa 52641
A Letter from Rio Rancho, New Mexico
February 28, 1999
Dear Starkweather Students,
Greetings from warm and sunny New Mexico!
Kirby made a stop here in Rio Rancho, New Mexico last week. I am a former
teacher from Mt. Pleasant, Iowa with no students of my own right now to celebrate
Valentines Day with. There was a group of students who helped me realize that even
from far away, I was remembered on Valentine's Day. Mrs. Heusmann's and Mrs. Roth's
classes sent me a gazillion Valentines and wrote me wonderful letters and some even sent
me some pencils. It made me feel good and just a little sad too because I missed
them a lot..........but as a random act of kindness, it was the BEST!
For those of you who haven't ever been to New
Mexico, it is just beautiful. We have had a very warm, dry winter. It only
snowed one time all winter, and if you didn't see it falling, you would have missed it
altogether. There aren't a lot of trees until you get into the Rocky Mountains or
down by the Rio Grande River. The sun shines at least some nearly every day.
After growing up in Iowa, I really appreciate the sunshine in the winter. I hope many of
you will have a chance to visit here some time in your life. It is so different from
Iowa ......(which I think is the best state in the U.S. to grow up in)!
THANK YOU FOR BRIGHTENING MY DAY WITH KIRBY AND
GOOD LUCK TO HIM IN HIS TRAVELS.
Hint: you should be hearing from Kansas in the
next week or two.
Sincerely,
Donna Rupp
A Letter from Hoyt, Kansas
March 3, 1999
We really are enjoying Kirby here at Royal
Valley Elementary School in Hoyt, Kansas. He got here from New Mexico on Monday.
We are sending him to Oregon on Friday. Thanks for Kirby. Our act of
kindness is making a friendship chain out of daisies. We are going to send it to a
children's hospital to cheer them up. Hoyt is a small town about 10 miles north of
Topeka, Ks. We have a wonderful school, kindergarten through 4th grade. There
are about 300 students. Many of them are Potowatami Indians who live on a nearby
reservation. We are very proud of our school and we love it here!!!!! Thanks
again for Kirby. We hope he has a great trip and comes back someday.
Your friends,
Mrs. Switzer
Karie Wahweotten
Nicholas Gower
Brock Kennedy
Another Letter from Hoyt, Kansas
March 4, 1999
We now have Kirby Kangaroo at
our school, Royal Valley Elementary. We are located at Hoyt, Kansas, about 20 miles
north of Topeka. It is a K-4 building. We have about 325 students. Our school
district includes the Potawatomi Indian Reservation.
My name is Mrs. Diane Taylor. My 3rd
grade class includes 24 students. Some of our kindness acts include making
Valentines for Veterans, collecting blue jeans to make rugs at the Veterans Hospital,
singing for Senior Citizens, and collecting soup labels. We also do clean up
projects around the school. We love your idea. Thanks for allowing us to share
in the Kids Kindness project. We will be sending Kirby to a new location soon.
A Letter from Broomfield Colorado
March 19, 1999
Hello,
We are writing to thank you for the opportunity
to meet Kirby. He visited our class at Mountain View Elementary School in
Broomfield, Colorado (north suburb of Denver) via Kansas and Albuquerque. We do not
know where he was before that. What a great idea. We have a dog named Benji
who goes home with us for weekends and vacations and we have to write in the journal what
he did. For our random act of kindness, we have made Spring and Easter decorations
for a nursing home in Longmont Colorado. (Alicia's) One of our student's grandmother
is there. Then we sent Kirby to Alaska. Another student (Addison's)
grandfather is superintendent of schools there and promised to pass Kirby to a very
special class. He will be there about Monday, March 22nd. We hope Kirby has
fun on all of his travels. Please let us know where all he visited when he finally
gets back to you.
Love,
Ms. Bradshaws K-1-2 Primary Multi-age Class
Mountain View Elementary School
www.mtnview.ad12.k12.co.us
http://www.mtnview.ad12.k12.co.us
p.s. This is sent via my email (parent of student in class and class volunteer). The
students were very excited to take part in Kirby's journey and look forward to hearing
back about the trip and the places he visited. Please feel free to let me know at my
email address and I will forward the message to them, or you can send it to the class via
Pat Brown on the web site. As a sidenote, the K students in the class hope that
"Joey" is doing well while his mother is on her trip. Thanks again!
Teri Davis
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