SACO, Maine — Schools across the state hold fundraisers for sports teams and special projects. One Maine school decided, that instead of selling cookies or magazines, the students would sell good deeds.
Saco Middle School held its first-ever "Kindness Day" on Tuesday.
The students asked loved ones for donations and then pledged to serve others in the community. They split up into teams and thanked first responders, painted businesses, cleaned up the school's garden, and made blankets for kids in an area hospital.
Their teachers said kindness has been a year-long theme, and it's seeped into daily life at the school.
"Even here, we've noticed it—like, kids holding doors for each other; things that we, when I was growing up, when I was in sixth grade, was the norm—the please, the thank yous, things like that," Lisa Hall, a sixth-grade teacher, said.
The initial fundraising goal was $10,000. By Tuesday, the kids had raised $11,000, with five days remaining to collect donations.
Much of the funds raised by the kids will go toward building a playground for the school.