Arizona Gives Day

Kindness Influencers

Your donation today will ensure Ben’s Bells educational materials remain free to Arizona schools.

English-Language Learners (ELLs) and Kindness Club members at Billy Lane Lauffer Middle School were excited to be visited by Jeannette Maré on March 6, 2024. Maré spoke about the science of kindness and its effects in helping promote a healthier society; one that works and grows together. Students now understand even better than before the importance of being “kindness influencers” for the people around them — at school and within their community.

Ben’s Bells has been a part of the Lauffer community since 2016 when they had their first Kind Campus Kick-Off Assembly, and Be Kind flower mural installation. Since then, the message of kindness has been spread primarily through the use of Kind Notes. Students and staff have enjoyed recognizing their friends and colleagues for acts of kindness.

Ms. Bejarano began a Be Kind elective class during summer school in June 2021. From there, a 21st-century afterschool club was created and led by Bejarano to continue the spread of acts of kindness on campus. Members of the Kindness Club participate in creating motivational ceiling tiles to uplift students and staff. Kindness Club members also use their creativity to design and paint Kindness Rocks to be hidden throughout the school for students and staff to find.

ELL students and Kindness Club members have come together to start a project based on Maré’s presentation on the Science of Kindness and the idea that acts of kindness directly affect the feeling of peace in a community. The culmination of the project will be a sculpture created by Lauffer students, staff, and selected community members representing acts of kindness in the community. It will stand as part of the Ben’s Bells Be Kind initiative and the Rotary International Peace Pole Project.

Creating a culture of kindness has a life-long influence on students. Your support funds Ben’s Bells education programs like Kind Campus which is free for any school to access as they work to build a Kind Arizona.

Collaborating for Kindness

Your support today helps Ben’s Bells provide these opportunities and build partnerships that make an even bigger impact in our community! 

ADP has made a deep commitment to a Kind Arizona by supporting multiple school programs in Tucson and Phoenix. These programs include teacher training, kindness Assemblies, ceramic Kindness Coins, and murals that have already positively impacted 1,942 students at five schools in Tucson, with an additional 2,054 students at four schools in Phoenix. 

Beyond investing in local schools, ADP also helped create the original Ben’s Bells Pride ornament. Employees from the Tempe and Tucson teams worked together to design, glaze, and fund the ornament, benefiting and raising awareness for local LGBTQIA+ programs and organizations.  

“It has been a tremendous privilege to collaborate with Ben’s Bells over the past several years. Through the support of our ADP Foundation, we have sponsored various programs of theirs while fostering a culture of volunteerism among our associates both within and beyond the workplace. As a company that prioritizes inclusivity, it has been deeply rewarding to contribute to Ben’s Bells’ mission of spreading kindness, particularly within the local educational institutions. Our associates have dedicated their time to various Ben’s Bells murals across Tucson, evoking a sense of pride and fulfillment upon witnessing these installations or observing visitors sharing their experiences online. Personally, my 6-year-old child has been exposed to Ben’s Bells through her school’s mural and programs, underscoring the significance of participating in the transformative initiatives within Tucson schools. I look forward to continuing this wonderful partnership in the many years to come,” says Candace Ballesteros, ADP Tucson Program Administrator.

Does your employer want to build a culture of volunteerism and find more opportunities for staff to practice kindness skills? 

Ripple Effects of Kindness

Your donation today allows Ben’s Bells to continue to highlight the kindness found within our community, creating a ripple effect of kind behavior.

Ben’s Bells honors kind individuals each week by Belling them — presenting them with a Ben’s Bell and gift pack. We receive nominations from all over Tucson and Phoenix and get to enjoy learning and sharing about those who inspire kindness daily, making our communities a better place to live. A very special nominee comes from the Karuna Horse Rescue in Tucson, Arizona.

The Karuna Horse Rescue was founded by Candace and has created a forever sanctuary for horses in need of rescue and rehabilitation. She has opened her heart and property to rescue horses from cruelty, abandonment, and neglect. Her rehabilitation philosophy is horse-centered and nurtures the Horse Within to return to a natural state of Liberty and Well-Being. 

“She awakens at the crack of dawn every day to prepare meals that are filled with individual medicine and/or supplements for each horse. Some of these horses have needs that include breathing treatments, special eye care to prevent progressing blindness, special-fitting booties that address chronic foot issues, and other degenerative diseases. Candace and her husband Paul also use their financial resources over and over, never wavering when a horse has to have specialty care. This is a 24/7 commitment. This is her private residence, and at any moment a horse may need her care and boundless loving support for any number of issues. I know of a horse with extreme sinus issues that requires feeding every two hours. Candace is there. There are no harnesses, no saddles, and no riding these magnificent animals. They are treated with respect and dignity to live out their days finally knowing the capacity of the human heart and how capable one human being can be to change their world into something very special,” says Susan Nichols.

Learning about kind acts happening all around you encourages the expression of gratitude, which is itself an important form of kindness. 

Be Kind and Bear Down

Your donations to Ben’s Bells create the opportunity for staff to develop educational resources that are shared free of charge all over the world.

Ben’s Bells collaborated with University of Arizona students to spread the word about kindness. Together we wrote just under 100 Kind Notes that were shared all over Norton School of Human Ecology. Kind Notes are a quick and easy way to practice kindness. Whether recognizing a specific act of kindness or just reminding someone how special they are, these little green notes can create an impact that benefits the writer as well as the recipient.

Katie Bayless shared, “The Kind Notes were very heartfelt and people wrote a lot on them! We got to pass the notes out to the professors, who were all very thankful. None of them knew that we were doing this project so we caught them by surprise! Many of the professors said that the notes made their whole day. One shared that they were having a bad day and that our notes made a difference. I loved being a part of this project. We will continue to spread intentional kindness whenever we can now that we know how impactful it is.”

Ben’s Bells offers Tools for Kindness free on our website. You can download different tools and activities that help incorporate kindness into your everyday life. With every act of kindness, you’re contributing to a lasting culture of kindness in our community.

KindWire

Your donation inspires beautiful visual reminders of kindness throughout our community. 

HighWire’s owner Nick Wayne has always advocated for kindness. He generously hosts Ben’s Bells’ end of summer celebration each year and has donated one-of-a-kind cocktails to indulge in at Celebration of Kindness. Nick has dreamed of having a Ben’s Bells mural and with the expansion of HighWire’s new event space, that dream is becoming a reality.

Like each of Ben’s Bells’ murals, this new one is a kindness-themed mosaic mural with vibrant colors that symbolize community connection with a custom design that reflects our love for Tucson. This mural will be prominently featured in Downtown Tucson next to Johnny Gibson’s where many Tucsonans will enjoy its beauty and power as a visual reminder to practice intentional kindness.

Nick shared, “HighWire has a longstanding friendship with Ben’s Bells. The message of kindness is something we fully support and try to foster in the way we do business. The imagery Ben’s Bells Murals Coordinator Jack created perfectly captures a day and night glimpse of Tucson. We’re excited to have it be a permanent part of our building.”

With the support of the community, these beautiful visual reminders of kindness are found all over the state of Arizona. Many studies show that visual cues such as Ben’s Bells murals act as reminders of shared values and help promote positive action.

Kind Workplace

Your donations provide the support needed to create tools that support a culture of kindness!

Ben’s Bells’ Kind Colleagues program highlights kindness as an essential part of workplace culture and has an impact that can be felt each day as colleagues enhance communication skills, prioritize team building, and navigate challenges or change.

Lorri from R&A CPAs shared, “We LOVE being Kind Colleagues! The kick-off presentation was impactful for our team—-especially the story about how colleagues didn’t invite a team member to lunch and thought they were doing her a favor (because the place they were going isn’t her favorite thing). Still, it caused her to feel overlooked and intentionally left out. That particular story has been referenced multiple times here when team members are now trying to be proactive about how their communications and meeting invitations may affect one another.

We have created a kindness chain with the templates provided by the Kind Colleagues program. It hangs at the front desk where everyone can see it daily as they walk in and out of the building. What started as chain links among colleagues became a statement of our commitment to kindness to our clients as well, and each day clients come in and ask about what it means. We have had at least 10 clients write links and add to our chain—some about our employees that they work with, and some which are just special to them. We LOVE that this chain is a constant reminder of the positive power of kindness internally and externally! Overall, there is a definite awareness in our team members about kindness and its value thanks to the Kind Colleagues program.”

Ben’s Bells stays up-to-date on the latest research and is continuously evolving our educational materials. Your support allows us to continue developing and offering kindness education resources that can help transform an organization’s culture.