Bullying is something that millions of children all over the country sadly have to deal with every day. To combat this, a group of fifth grade students at Parker Elementary School in Elk River, Minnesota decided to start a kindness club, and it’s already changing lives in noticeable ways.

Teachers say that since the kindness club was started last year, they have seen huge changes in their students and noticed more positivity in the classroom.

“There had been some issues in fifth grade of kids not being very kind to each other,” said Ashley Justen, a social worker at the school. “Teachers had talked to some of the students and told them things had to change because ‘that’s not how you treat people.”

Matt Greenhoe, a fifth grade teacher, said that he had been talking to his students about improving positivity at the school when fifth grader Ady Bollinger came up with the idea for the club.

“I said, ‘That’s a great idea,’ and I just kind of let them go,” Greenhoe said.

Ady explained that the goal of the club is to help students feel safe at school and to help them improve their self-esteem.

“It kind of makes the world a better place having someone your age to turn to for help,” said club member Elsie Ostmoe.

Members of the club have completed numerous kindness projects and they even have a bucket on display where people can drop notes about random acts of kindness that they see, and members plan to read them during school announcements. Greenhoe said that the club’s members have given up recess once a week to work on their projects.

Just before Christmas, the students launched Operation Candy Cane in which they handed out candy canes to all six hundred students at the club along with a note that read, “Happy Holidays from the Kindness Club.” During Holly Jolly Week, they put notes on lockers of students who have special needs.

“It makes us feel good that everyone is getting included and no one feels left out,” said member Tessa Boche.

Though this is the last year that the fifth grade students will be at Parker Elementary School, they plan to bring their kindness initiative with them to middle school. They are also hoping that the fourth graders will keep their club going after they graduate!