For 10 years, Ben's Bells have popped up throughout Tucson. The brightly colored chimes have been found hanging on trees, fences and signs, encouraging the lucky finders to spread kindness to others.
In that decade, the program has opened two studios here to make the bells, and volunteers have distributed 32,000 chimes in places where tragedy has struck, including New York City, New Orleans, Hermosillo, Mexico, and most recently Newtown, Conn. Ben's Bells chapters have opened in nine cities spanning from Portland, Ore., to Jacksonville, Fla.
But the project has grown beyond just the bells.
Drive around Tucson and you're sure to pass several cars displaying a green "Be Kind" sticker on their rear windows or see one of the mosaic kindness murals along the "Kindness Corridor" running from downtown to North Fourth Avenue to the University of Arizona and other parts of the city.
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"The bell continues to be the symbol of everything we do, but there's just so much more now in terms of the programming that we do," Jeannette Maré, executive director of Ben's Bells.
On the University of Arizona campus, students trade Ben's Bells bracelets as part of the Be Kind, Step Up program, which encourages students to acknowledge acts of kindness by passing on the bracelet. Each has a unique number, used online to help the stories behind it.
Future plans for Ben's Bells include expanding the Kind Colleagues program, geared toward creating a culture of kindness at workplaces. Ben's Bells also has partnered with the UA to help improve its kindness education programming and eventually be part of a study that will evaluate the effects of those programs.
Bells in school
Several thousand students in 150 elementary, middle and high schools across town are part of the Ben's Bells Kind Kids and Kind Campus programs.
"What it does is it gives kids some practice and some tools and helps them find the courage and the power to look somebody in the eye and either be kind to them or thank them for being kind," said Dev Sethi, vice president of the Ben's Bells board of directors. Sethi's son and daughter attend Manzanita Elementary School, a Kind Kids schools.
Los Ranchitos Elementary School, 2054 E. Ginter Road, started the Kind Kids program, curriculum geared to students in kindergarten through eighth grade, in August.
Fifth-grader Megan Tarajcak, knows the importance of being kind and how it helps others. She and her 10-year-old brother, David, are new to Los Ranchitos, having spent the last four years living in Germany.
"I think being kind means when you're new to some place that people, they say 'hello' and smile at you because when we lived in Germany, when we first got here we were really scared, but then when people were like smiling and they said 'hello' we felt more welcome so that when new people came we did the same thing," Megan said.
Students and staff recognize the kids for their nice acts by writing kind notes to each other.
David received a note for bringing supplies for his classroom and Megan has gotten one from their mom, a teachers aide, for helping kids in the cafeteria.
"Some kids think that 'oh I'm not kind, so I don't have to get one of those notes,' but when they do something nice, like say 'thank you' or do something kind to somebody, then you can write a note … and they just feel better about themselves and then they can be kind," Megan said. "It's like a domino effect, it just keeps happening again and again."
Manzanita Elementary School, 3000 E. Manzanita Ave., was one of the first schools to start the Kind Kids program in 2008.
There's been a noticeable difference in how the students treat each other, said teacher and kindness coordinator Kathleen Bowman.
"Before we started the program and when we initiated and when we were trying to catch kids being kind, there was a lot of indifference that we would witness," Bowman said. "The student next to them was struggling opening their milk carton and they would just sort of be taking care of themselves and not offer to help. Now, two or three kids will say I can help you with that."
The school recognizes students "caught being kind" by reading their name over weekly announcements and including their name on a kindness vine in the front office. At the end of the year one student from each class and one from each grade level is selected for a kindess award and rewarded with a mini Ben's Bell or Ben's Bells necklace.
This year, the school had its first Kindness Day where families came to the school on a Saturday to paint the beads used to make Ben's Bells and students spray-painted Ben's Bells flowers on the sidewalk.
"Kindness really changes things for the better and it has to start with the individual, and by empowering the kids with kindness and the ability to do that, you're empowering them to change the world," Bowman said.
IF YOU GO
• What: Celebration of Kindness, a fundraiser for Ben's Bells in honor of its 10th anniversary.
• When: 6 to 10 p.m. April 20.
• Where: Ben's Bells Downtown Studio, 40 W. Broadway.
• Tickets: $60 in advance; $75 at the door. Tickets can be purchased at www.bensbells.org or at the studio.
• More info: The event features music from the Determined Luddites, Jovert Steel Drum Band and Sonora Borealis, a silent auction, photo booth, glitter tattoos, dancing, food and wine.
About Ben's Bells
Jeannette Maré launched the program in 2003, the year after her nearly 3-year-old son Ben, a "precocious talker" with "incredible comedic timing," died of croup.
The project, inspired by the kindness shown to Maré while she was grieving, is a way to pay that kindness forward.
"It wasn't the kindness that made the sadness go away, but what the kindness did was sort of held me up while I felt it and when people supported me with kindness it made me feel safer to feel the pain because grief is really scary when you don't feel supported," Maré said.
Ben's Belling
The recipient of this week's Ben's Bell is Yvonne Foucher.
Foucher was nominated by Susan Miller for her support of local charities and for helping people in need.
Foucher, the owner of CataVinos wine store, hosts fundraising events at the shop for organizations including Handi-Dogs, Therapeutic Riding of Tucson and Southern Arizona Greyhound Adopton, Miller wrote in her nomination letter.
"Besides having a soft spot for animals, Yvonne went to extraordinary lengths to help a homeless man named Michael," Miller wrote.
Foucher befriended the man and gave the man work, and when he was diagnosed with an illness, she helped with his medical care. She helped raise money for the man's medical needs and found him a place to live to make "his last months comfortable," Miller wrote. "When Michael passed away, it was a tremendous blow to Yvonne, but she undoubtedly will continue to help those in need," Miller wrote.
Contact reporter Veronica Cruz at vcruz@azstarnet.com or at 573-4224.
