The RAK Pack is on a mission at Crosby Park Elementary School — to carry out as many random acts of kindness as possible.
Members of the RAK Pack include seven fourth and fifth graders recruited by Claudia Montgomery, school counselor, who started the club last year. RAK Pack stands for Random Acts of Kindness, which is a play on words of the Brat Pack from the 1980s, Montgomery said.
“Our group is designed for the kids to perform random acts of kindness around their school and their community,” Montgomery said. “It began because we always talk to our kids about kindness and spreading it like confetti. But I wanted to show them what kindness was. It wasn’t just a word, it’s an action.”
Montgomery, who taught fifth grade at Crosby Park for 11 years, said the idea for the RAK Pack has its roots in her high school years.
“We used to do a lot of things around the community,” she said. “So those are the things I miss being more involved in.”
The second-year counselor said she was looking for opportunities to become more involved in the community and in the school. That’s when she noticed that the custodians at Crosby Park had a huge task.
“It’s a big school, so any way that we can give back to them, we usually ask ‘Is there anything that we can do for you?’” she said.
That’s where members of the RAK Pack come in. One of the random acts of kindness the students perform is helping custodians empty the trash.
“We do a lot of stuff, like we do trash to be kind and help out our custodians that need help because we only got two custodians right now and they’re with 300 kids, and we have to help them,” Caleb Collins, fifth grader, explained.
Reina Graham, fourth grader, said helping custodians is her favorite thing about being a member of the RAK Pack.
“And really, my favorite part about it is like giving people kindness and helping the community,” Graham said.
The Pack has done several community-related activities this school year. They marched in the Holiday in the Park Christmas parade and gave out candy to spectators, and spent several hours ringing the bell for The Salvation Army.
But it is within the walls of Crosby Park Elementary School that the Pack does the most work. In addition to helping custodians collect trash, members of the RAK Pack meet each Thursday to bag food items for 31 fellow students who receive the bags each Friday. The food items are supplied by Child Nutrition Services, but it is the responsibility of the RAK Pack to sort, bag and distribute the items.
“I involve the RAK Pack because I want them to see that there are some needs,” Montgomery said.
Collins said helping with the food distribution is his favorite activity.
“I like doing the food and stuff because it makes me think about I’m giving to the people in need of that, like, need stuff that they can’t buy right now and they can’t afford because of bills and everything,” Collins said.
So how does one become a member of the RAK Pack?
“I’m always looking for a behavior,” Montgomery said. “I’m always looking for kids who are doing the right thing when nobody is watching. It’s very easy to do the right thing when you know your teacher is watching, principal’s watching, but when you don’t think anybody’s watching, and you’re doing the right thing, then you’re RAK Pack material. It’s just who you are as a person in that you have integrity. That’s how you get into respect.”
Kynadi Marshall is one member of the RAK Pack who has learned the lesson of respect. She said she has learned “how to work as a team, how to show respect to others. Because even if they don’t show you respect back, you still have to respect them.”
In addition to helping custodians and doing community projects, the RAK Pack runs the Kindness Store, where students may “purchase” small items once a week. Montgomery explained that the school chooses a word — like patience — each week that builds good character. During the week, teachers look for students who exhibit that behavior, selecting two students at the end of the week who may exchange a token for an item from the Kindness Store. Items include squishy toys, stickers, bracelets, pens and pencils or water bottles.
Montgomery said she hopes the RAK Pack helps students build self-esteem and relationships.
“I feel like a lot of kids are struggling on how to build relationships and how to be more positive with one another. So if they can get anything out of this, I hope they get how to spread that positivity and kindness. I feel like they think that it’s taboo to show kindness to other people. And I just want them to understand that kindness is something that you should carry with you.”
Collins explained what it feels like to spread kindness.
“It’s like my heart starts beating fast and it feels good to do the right thing, and it makes me feel really kind about myself,” he said.