Dr. Sue A. Shook Elementary students will spread goodwill and cheer to children in Uvalde, Texas, with kindness cards and pink socks in March.
The school’s students, including fifth-grader Scarlett Felix, hope the colorful cards with encouraging messages and fun pink socks will help brighten the day of Robb Elementary School’s former students. Robb Elementary School permanently closed after a mass shooting at the school on May 24, 2022.
“Because of the tragedy that happened last year at that school, we want to make them smile,” a beaming Felix said.
During Shook Elementary’s week of kindness from Jan. 23 to 27, the school’s student council members raised more than $3,000 to send kindness cards and pink socks to 485 students in Uvalde.
Cristina Duarte, Shook Elementary school counselor, said the gifts will be sent to Uvalde during spring break in March.
“The students in Uvalde went through something very hard for them, so we want to show them our support by spreading our kindness to them,” Duarte said.
Shook Elementary pays it forward
Since 2019, Shook Elementary in the Socorro Independent School District has been a proud member of the Pinksocks tribe. Pinksocks is a community of more than 200,000 happy, smiling people whose mission is to create a global movement of empathy, caring and love. The organization distributes bright pink socks adorned with mustaches and puzzle pieces to empower people of all ages and all walks of life to connect and be kind to one another.
After the 2019 El Paso Walmart shooting, Pinksocks Life, the nonprofit organization behind the pink socks movement, donated 1,300 pairs of socks to Shook Elementary students, teachers and staff to remind them that kindness exists in the world.
School Principal Cristina Sanchez-Chavira said sending pink socks to children in Uvalde is the school’s way of paying that kindness forward.
“Just like (Pinksocks) thought of us during that time and we received that gift, we want to make sure that we are gifting that out as well and paying it forward to other communities that may have been impacted by a negative situation,” Sanchez-Chavira said. “We want (Uvalde) to know that there’s other individuals across the state that are thinking about them and want the best for their community.”
Fourth-grader Ximena Castro, the school’s student council president, joined her fellow student council members to color rainbows, birds and sunshine on the cards and write messages of support such as “Sending some cheer your way!”
“I put messages like ‘Believe in yourself; you matter,’” Castro said. “I just want them to feel like they’re appreciated, and they’re loved.”
Students learn a valuable lesson in kindness
Shook Elementary first caught the attention of Pinksocks Life after a 2019 Twitter post by then first-grade teacher Zelene Blancas, who encouraged her students to be kind to one another, went viral. The post included a video of her students ending the day positively by sharing hugs, handshakes, fist bumps, and high-fives as they left their classroom.
The organization reached out to Blancas and sent her 32 pairs of socks for her students. After Pinksocks Life announced that they would donate socks to the entire school, Shook Elementary hosted a pep rally in November 2019 to welcome the organization’s co-founder Nick Adkins to campus. Adkins visited the school a second time in November 2022 when the fifth graders gifted pink socks to the first graders.
The Pinksocks Tribe has grown to 39 schools across the United States alone and has distributed over 200,000 pairs of pink socks, which includes visits to O’Shea Keleher Elementary, Bill Sybert School, Campestre Elementary, Purple Heart Elementary, and El Dorado High School.
Each pair of socks is $5. Although Pinksocks Life does not charge for the stockings, they welcome donations.
Blancas died from COVID-19 in December 2020, but her legacy of goodwill continues to grow and influence the school’s kindness curriculum.
Adkins credits the school’s support of the Pinksocks’ mission for the Rattlers’ generosity toward Uvalde.
“It tells me that the kids get this,” Adkins said. “That they know exactly what’s going on here that they understand the ethos of giving probably better than some adults do.”
Dr. Sue A. Shook students writing letters photos
Published February 14, 2023
Strategic Direction: College and Career Readiness