May 12, 2023

Ridge Meadows Elementary Kindness Crew students donated more than $600 and items they collected – including blankets they helped make – to the Center for Animal Rescue and Enrichment (CARE) STL shelter as part of a service learning project.

Kindness Crew members Brooklyn, Brady, Hadley, Kenzie, Lucca, Savannah and teachers Nicole Kinzie and Lauren Schneider delivered the donations to the shelter in Midtown on April 30.

“The people at the shelter said it helped a lot with getting help for the animals for food and all of that,” said Kenzie.

The Ridge Meadows Kindness Crew is composed of nearly 30 fifth-graders at the school. Each year, as part of their character- and leadership-building activities, the students vote on an organization to benefit with a service learning project.

This year, the students chose CARE STL, which accepts the homeless, neglected, injured and surrendered animals of the St. Louis area and houses them until they find their forever homes.

That has included dogs, cats and even – as the students learned on their trip to the shelter – an alligator, kangaroo and a current resident rooster.

“I almost bought the rooster,” Brady said.

Kindness Crew members collected items and donations during the week of April 24 to donate to CARE STL. They also helped make blankets to donate, one of which was an immediate hit with a resident of the shelter.

“When we gave the first one to a cat, he liked it,” Brady said. “He immediately laid down on it.”

The Kindness Club members also brought back a souvenir from their visit: a plush toy dog that one of the shelter volunteers crocheted. She sells her animals with proceeds going directly to CARE STL. Now, the dog is a sort of unofficial Kindness Club mascot.

The students said it was rewarding to see the animals – and the people – that their actions are helping. It’s one of the reasons they joined Kindness Club in the first place: to show kindness.

“I like getting to do nice things for other people,” Savannah said.