Operation Kindness: Children’s suffering sparks project serving Shreveport

NBC 6 and Fox 33 are proud to partner with the Nell Shehee Foundation on Operation Kindness.

SHREVEPORT, La. ( KTAL/KMSS ) – The Nell Shehee Foundation has teamed up with the Social Therapy Project to make sure local students have the necessary tools to feel confident at school, by providing personal hygiene bags to those in need.

"We want to make sure that they have everything they need to succeed and feeling good about yourself makes you have a better academic experience," said Valencia Jones, Founder of Social Therapy Project.

Jones is also a licensed professional counselor, and saw the need for these items while visiting different campuses.

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"What hurt me the most was to see children suffering. That's what tugged at my heart strings," Jones explained. "It's not their fault that they come from a home where they don't have the basic needs just to feel and look good to be presentable at school and not be subject to bullying."

Three years ago, Jones started a grassroots effort to provide toiletries to students at Caddo Parish High Schools. The 'Be Blessed Bags' contain items like deodorant, lotion, toothbrush, toothpaste and motivational quotes. Shehee said Jones' act of kindness aligns with the mission of the Nell Shehee Foundation and its community initiative titled Operation Kindness.

"There's a lot of negativity in the world so anything that sends a very simple message of kindness is important," said Shehee.

Shehee's foundation sponsored 50 hygiene bags (25 for male students, 25 for female students) and donated 100 Operation Kindness tote bags to the cause.

"She's getting her hygiene items out and I'm getting my message out which is it's OK to be kind," Shehee shared.

Jones explained how the small items make a huge impact.

"I had one student who said I haven't seen a toothbrush in so long," Jones recalled. "And I had a set of three little girls, little blond-haired, blue-eyed girls and they were walking down the hall away and they said, 'We have soap for everybody in the whole family. We can take a bath now.'"

"Just be kind to your fellow man," Shehee implored. "Be kind to another human being and it can change their life."

Social Therapy Project donates bags to three schools each year and continues to look for community partners and donors .