Teaming Up to Teach Kindness: Kind News Partners Expand Their Impact

By Heidi Colonna, Kind News™ Writer and Editor –

Caryl Edwards, Voice for Animals

Partnering up to deliver lessons in kindness is nothing new to the Kind News magazine team, but the rewards of excited children and grateful teachers never grow old. This school year, Voice for Animals (VFA) and Beesley Animal Foundation have ramped up their impact by expanding their Kind News reach.

Voice for Animals (VFA) started bringing Kind News to 11 classrooms along Maine and New Hampshire’s Seacoast area in 2018. Energized by teacher feedback, the group’s classroom list steadily grew each year. This year, it’s increased Kind News distribution to 132 classrooms, reaching more than 3,600 children!

VFA President, Caryl Edwards, says, “As a retired teacher, I have come to realize that the more students have access to Kind News in their classrooms, the more likely they are to become compassionate adults, making compassionate decisions about all the animals they encounter.”

Education is the longest-standing initiative for Beesley Animal Foundation in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, now in its 45th year of operation. This year, the group increased its Kind News coverage from 93 to 173 classrooms, an expansion made possible through the support of the Murfreesboro Breakfast Rotary Club and the Murfreesboro Rotary Club.

Katie Peachey, Beesley Animal Foundation

“We cannot stress enough the importance of teaching children and adults about responsible pet care, spay/neuter, pet ownership, and pet safety,” says Grants and Marketing Administrator Katie Peachey. “Promoting kindness, respect, and responsibility is at the heart of everything we do. Kind News is an amazing tool for reaching students, especially fourth through sixth graders, helping ensure these important lessons really sink in. When children learn to be kind to animals, they grow into kinder people.”

We’re grateful for Beesley’s and VFA’s longtime partnership and dedication to humane education, and look forward to the reception of Kind News in these new classrooms!

Individual supporters, along with our partnerships across the United States, help ensure every classroom sponsored is a community of kindness created. But more children are waiting for Kind News. You can provide it to classrooms through our Adopt-a-Classroom program.