Dignity Health Inspires 5 Million Students To Complete Record Number Acts Of Humankindness

This article is sponsored by Dignity Health

Kindness is a powerful tool; the key that unlocks opportunities, strengthens human connections, fosters love and healing, and impacts the world in meaningful ways. To spark the power of kindness in children across the world, Dignity Health recently teamed up with Kids for Peace and students of all ages for the 2016 Great Kindness Challenge, which took place Jan. 25-29.

The Great Kindness Challenge is a bullying prevention initiative dedicated to creating a culture of kindness in elementary, middle, and high schools nationwide by challenging students to complete 50 acts of kindness in one week, and make a lifelong commitment to kindness. A record breaking year, the 2016 Great Kindness Challenge had more than 5 million students participate, completing more than 250 million acts of kindness.

To inspire the students throughout the challenge, Dignity Health's more than 65,000 employees took the challenge alongside students. Additionally, employees from Dignity Health hospitals across Arizona, California, and Nevada worked with local schools to teach students more about kindness – from hosting teddy bear "Kindness Clinics" with younger students, to helping students create get well cards for patients at Dignity Health hospitals – employees were actively involved in helping students complete their 50 acts of kindness.

The Great Kindness Challenge is a powerful way for the nation's youth to demonstrate that they are an unstoppable force of kindness, creating a new culture in their school and across the world, as well as inspiring others to join in the kindness movement.

Challenge yourself to bring kindness into your world by making a list of kind deeds and checking a few off every day. From smiling at each person you walk by on the way to work and holding the door open for others, to collecting books for the local library and volunteering for an organization you're passionate about.

Get inspired to create your own kindness checklist by looking at Dignity Health's Great Kindness Challenge checklist completed by employees. Remember, it doesn't cost anything to be kind, yet the results are priceless. Inspire others by sharing your acts of humankindness on social media using #DignityHealthGKC.

This article was written by Laurie Jo Miller Farr via Examiner.com for CBS Local Media.