Hundreds of children in identical teal T-shirts reading “kindness is free” explored, created art and played carnival games on the Pierce College campus on Saturday.
Kindness is Free was established in 2020 by Lori Milgard and JR Dzubak, the CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of West San Gabriel Valley & Eastside.
The 3rd Annual Kindness Carnival began with the staff and children taking the Kindness Pledge, following opening remarks by Milgard.
Guest actor and singer Alexander James Rodriguez performed and took the pledge with the organizers at the opening of the carnival.
According to Jennyfer Molina, students and staff from the Boys and Girls Club of Malibu attended the carnival to learn how to prevent bullying and spread kindness.
“The main goal is for them to come and know that everything here has been paid for, so they don’t have to worry about the money burden, and also to just come out and have fun with their friends,” Molina said. “And then we want to enforce being kind to everybody, and enforcing to spread it.”
At the event, the staff had booths set up for students in the Boys and Girls Club to make a kindness scrapbook and advocate for kindness.
Milgard said the environment for kids has changed over the decades, and she wants to see people get back to being kind to one another.
“I think we’re all born kind, and I think we’ve lost our way a little bit,” Milgard said. “So I’m hoping we can redirect some of this. It’s about having fun and being kind to one another.”
Jay Faccio, a DJ at 104.3 MYFM, was at the event, which had sponsors such as In-N-Out Burger and iHeartRadio. Lisa Foxx was the emcee.
“And we’re out here giving some stickers, some sunglasses, on this nice sunny day,” said Faccio, who also mentioned they were giving away tickets to Six Flags. “You know, it’s just kind of being here for the kids.”
