Giving Tuesday

Tuesday, November 29th

Giving Thanks to our Community

Twenty years ago, the first Bells were hung in memory of Ben. He would have been 23 this year. Out of that grief grew a movement that was bigger than we could have ever imagined. A simple message of kindness took root in the world and continued to grow each year into kindness education programming, community art opportunities, and so much more, including our mosaic murals. Thousands of volunteers have worked on more than 250 murals in Tucson, Phoenix, Connecticut and beyond. These visual representations of kindness bring communities together and are a daily reminder to Be Kind.

To celebrate our milestone 20th anniversary year, we re-created the “I Am Tucson” mural, in its new home on the front of the Tucson Convention Center (TCC). And it’s no surprise that countless volunteers came together to make this happen.

We can never fully know the ripple effect from one simple act of kindness. During the week-long install we were lucky enough to hear some of these inspiring stories:

Kindness Education in our Community

Chase was attending a Career Fair at the TCC when he walked by day two of the mural installation. He recognized the “Be Kind” flower, stopped to watch, and then talked to our team. As a child, Chase had attended Harrelson Elementary, a participating school in our Kind Campus program. He reminisced about making ceramics in his art class and learning about the impact of intentional kindness while hanging Bells. He threw on a “Be Kind” apron over his interview attire and jumped in,helping with the install for the entire morning. As he placed individual tiles made by other community volunteers, he reflected on how his Kind Campus experience had left a lasting impression about the importance of practicing kindness.

Your donations help promote the power of kindness and inspire others to invest in our cause.

The Power of Kindness in the Workplace

Later in the week we met friends from a healthcare company, Sanofi, headquartered in Bridgewater, New Jersey. They’d brought a small team to Tucson and were looking for a way to give back to the community. They were thrilled to discover that the mural installation was happening during their meeting dates. In anticipation of the service project, their local representative Trina planned a kindness experience for her co-workers who were flying in to Tucson from across the country. 

When the 13 team members arrived, they were welcomed with packages that included gifts from Shop Kind and “Be Kind” cookies with the iconic green flower from Beyond Bread, a local restaurant. Trina was very familiar with the Ben’s Bells mission and made sure that her team was introduced to the importance of practicing intentional kindness. They were thrilled to be able to work on the mural install and jumped right in to the work of placing tiles. After having such a rewarding team building activity that had such a huge community impact and promoted the power of kindness,  Trina was able to nominate Ben’s Bells for financial support from Sanofi.

Your donations help promote the power of kindness and inspire others to invest in our cause. 

Kindness in the Studio

The origin of our popular murals program begins with a partnership between Ben’s Bells and Tucson Unified School District’s Community Transition Programs. This program was established to provide high school students with significant disabilities, ages 18–22, with a seamless transition from school to life as productive young adults. In 2009, this collaborative group began creating mosaic benches and eventually grew into installing kindness-themed murals in public spaces. 

Due to the pandemic, many of the current students were familiar with the mural process but unable to participate in actual mural installs. The “I Am Tucson” mural was a wonderful way to welcome them back with the opportunity to create handmade tiles. We hope this is the first of many more murals we’ll create together. Not only do the students learn about kindness, but they also learn job skills to take with them to use later in life.  

Your donations fund our community art studios where over 20,000 individuals come together each year to create ceramic mural tiles, Bells, Kindness Coins, and more! 

The Ripple Effect of Kindness

Twenty years ago Jeannette Maré started a movement, a kindness movement. She took a tragic situation, the sudden loss of her almost three-year-old son Ben, and chose to share her journey of healing and hope. She realized the universal need for kindness and connection, and has helped so many people to learn about kindness and how it can spread in communities. Be Kind. Simple words that create a powerful ripple effect. 

Ben’s Bells would not be here today if the community had not embraced this kindness movement, nurturing it and helping it grow. Just like a simple act of kindness, your support has a ripple effect. YOU help bring our community together. We hope you will help Ben’s Bells continue to teach about the importance of intentional kindness by making a donation today.