Students, adults set the tone for 'kindness boxes'

Kids these days.

They always have their noses pointed into their gadgets. They’re narcissistic little hooligans, right?

Well, maybe not.

Several students who are part of the school’s “Kindness Task Force” at Orchard Drive Elementary are always looking for ways to give back and help others.

The latest example are “kindness boxes” set up in front of the school. The boxes, according to reporting by Marybeth Niederkorn, are free-standing structures, about 3 by 4 feet. Each has a pitched roof and a clear-front door. One is a lending library, where patrons are asked to leave a book and are free to take another book.

Another box is called a “kindness pantry,” a place people can bring nonperishable food items and others may take them.

“Take what you can and leave what you can,” said Audri Wortmann, 6, whose grandfather built the boxes from plans her mother found online after the Wortmann sisters saw a Little Free Library in a neighbor’s yard, she said.

Last school year, the Kindness Task Force held a successful food-and-supplies drive for the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri.

So far, people have dropped off everything from baby oatmeal to grits in the little pantry.

The kindness pantry also is good for toiletries and personal-care items, from toothbrushes and toothpaste to ponytail holders.

It’s comforting to know that children are embracing the idea of helping and doing service for others.

Congrats to the Kindness Task Force, both the students and the adults who are spreading good deeds behind the scenes.