SNOHOMISH – Kayla Gannon, 17, was minding her own business, trying to eat her lunch, when a guy holding a balloon handed her a yo-yo.
Gannon’s face lit up. She laughed and held the gift with disbelief. Soon, the boy was off delivering gifts to other students in the Snohomish High School cafeteria.
“What a way to brighten somebody’s day. I had a bad day this morning, and now I’m feeling good,” said Gannon, a senior.
That’s what it’s all about, said student body president Houston Kraft, 17, who was among about a dozen teenagers granting “winter wishes” last week.
It’s the latest activity by a fast-growing new club he started at Snohomish High School called Random Acts of Kindness Etc., or RAKE for short.
Students and staff earlier made wishes for themselves or others, things that would be free or cost little. RAKE members granted about 200 wishes, handing out gloves and fuzzy socks, balloons, hot cocoa, a rubber duck and various other oddities.
Businesses helped by donating items or offering discounts.
Susanna Stack, 18, laughed over her tiny plastic “rubber” chicken. “How random,” she said.
It’s not the kind of kindness typically seen on a high school campus, the senior said. “It’s pretty rare. I like it. It’s cool.”
Kraft, a senior, started the club about two months ago.
He said he tired of inspirational assemblies.
“Assemblies don’t always reach the people you want them to,” he said. “Everybody wants something to happen to them individually, not just a collective message.”
The new club aims to fill that gap, he said. “I think eventually it will change the culture of the school.”
For the first meeting, he bought 28 doughnuts and gave two each to the 14 people who showed up – one for eating, and one for giving out at random to someone they never met before, hopefully sparking a conversation.
The following week, they made homemade cards with compliments in them and again handed them out at random.
More than 40 students are now active in the club.
“It’s a lot of fun,” senior Brenna Anderst, 18, said.
Kraft later heard of the Denver-based Random Acts of Kindness Foundation and set up a home page for the high school’s club at www. actsofkindness.org/member_ sites/houey.
The site was recognized by the foundation, and high school students from as far away as Texas have asked Kraft how to start their own club.
As part of their wish-granting this week, RAKE members interrupted a discussion in Justin Fox-Bailey’s English class to deliver an energy drink to the teacher.
“Mm, delicious. Thank you,” Fox-Bailey said.
“Another random act of kindness,” someone said.
Reporter Melissa Slager: 425-339-3465 or mslager@heraldnet.com.
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