AREA CHURCHES SPREAD YEAR-ROUND KINDNESS

When you go looking for kind people, it's not hard to find them at many area churches. Most don't even need a week promoting Random Acts of Kindness to perform their kind acts.

But placing a special emphasis on being kind, even if it is just for one week, has an effect on the community.

"It sensitizes everybody," said the Rev. Brendan Dempsey of First Presbyterian Church. It isn't that everyone in the community is on their best behavior, but they are more aware of kindnesses.

It isn't always the big things that people notice but the little things that really make the difference, he said.

Several members of the church have firsthand knowledge about how little things can change someone's life.

About nine youths and three adults spent a week on an Indian reservation in South Dakota last summer practicing their message of kindness.

The group helped with home repairs for residents on the reservation. They did everything from repair and patch roofs to install windows.

Don Drews, director of Christian education, remembers vividly how one man showed his appreciation for all the help he had received during the week.

The youths had hoped to install a window in his log home but couldn't because of its size. The window opening was too small and would require cutting the logs to make it fit. But there wasn't a chain saw available. The group finished the tasks and planned to return the next day.

Though the group was discouraged, they returned for their last day of work, Drews said. "He had borrowed a chain saw and spent most of the night cutting the hole for the window. He had started so that we could finish.

"Sometimes people let you know you're appreciated and sometimes you don't hear it, but he showed that we had made a difference to him."

The work in one of the nation's poorest counties really awakened church members to the fact that not everyone has all the things we take for granted, Dempsey said.

The church has a tradition of taking summer trips with the youths, both for fun and to help others. But the key is to keep a balance and always remember what the purpose of the trip is, Drews said.

Showing kindness by your attitude and actions is one of the best ways churches can affect a community, whether at home or away.

"If we would really live this week every week of the year, and that's our goal as we walk along our spiritual journey, we are reminded never to miss an opportunity to do some kindness," said Mary Ann Pensel of Grace United Methodist Church.

Pensel and several children in the church delivered cookies Wednesday to neighbors in the area around the Broadway and Caruthers location.

Thursday, a group delivered New Testaments and religious bookmarks to the Cottonwood Treatment Center. The Bibles were donated by the American Bible Society.

Staff members at New McKendree United Methodist Church in Jackson delivered mugs filled with sugar-free candies to shut-ins who can't always attend services, said Sue Jones.

Other churches that participated in Random Acts of Kindness Week:

Good News Christian Center in Jackson, Centenary United Methodist Church, Immaculate Conception Church in Jackson, Futrell Memorial Church of God in Christ in Jackson, Lynwood Baptist Church, Metropolitan Community Church, Little Whitewater Baptist Church in Patton, Trinity Lutheran Church, Charleston United Methodist Church, First General Baptist Church in Jackson, Dexter United Methodist Church and First Baptist Church in Jackson.