Phoenixville Communities That Care Says Kindness Rocks

PHOENIXVILLE, PA — Can you have too much kindness? Dolores Winston doesn't think so. She's coming up with creative ways to engage the Phoenixville community in being kind.

The latest way to express kindness will be by placing a "Be Kind" rock around Phoenixville. Contestants will design their "Be Kind" rock and submit a photo of it on the "Together We Can Raise the Village" Facebook Page. It's all part of Be KinWd eek in Phoenixville.

Events are ongoing this week, including focusing on pay-it-forward and making donations. As the Be Kind rocks are being decorated, Thursday's emphasis will be on doing something kind for an essential worker. Friday night is Be Kind BINGO and Saturday's emphasis will be on holding the door for someone.

Sunday will culminate the week with picking up litter and finalizing the Be Kind rock contest.

Be Kind rock entries can be posted starting Wednesday and may continue to be submitted through Nov. 15. After that, winners will be announced and prizes awarded.

The community mobilizer for Communities That Care (CTC), Winston said she is always looking for ways to stoke kindness, to get people to really believe that kindness rocks, and to "make it go viral."

In her Voices of the Village video series, Winston interviewed Phoenixville mayor Peter Urscheler, who backed the Be Kind initiative. "The most important thing you can be is to be kind," Urscheler said.

Winston is always working to get people acting kindly, and to learn how to live better and healthier lives, even when they aren't especially motivated. She said the CTC's virtual Be Kind BINGO is happening Friday night at 7 p.m. Families can register for a BINGO card by emailing PHXCTC@yahoo.com.

When in the past Winston wanted to teach good nutrition, she worked with Phoenixville Hospital to organize BINGO games around nutrition. She said people really didn't feel like "learning: much on a Friday night, but they did want to play BINGO. "Everyone is learning, and people like it. I sneak it in."

Winston said she is working on other events to keep kindness going. "Be Kind Week has me so energized," she said.

She's been with Communities That Care for 20 years and is also Community Program Superintendent for Phoenixville Borough. The national CTC organization is a comprehensive, research-based community mobilizing and planning process that provides a framework for communities to mobilize schools, families, community agencies and organizations, legislative representatives, local media, citizens and young people to create a community approach to prevention of dangerous behaviors.

CTC provides a framework for communities to organize for the common goal of creating a safe, supportive environment for our young people, encouraging their healthy behaviors.