First Prize: 15-18
Hannah was walking home from school one afternoon when she noticed a little girl sitting on the front steps of an apartment building, staring down at the ground. Her schoolbag sat beside her, and her fingers toyed with the edge of her sleeve. She looked as if she had been crying.
Hannah had seen her before—just once or twice—playing in the small park near her street. She wasn’t exactly a stranger, but not quite a friend either. Even so, Hannah had a feeling she should stop.
She approached gently, giving the girl space. “Hi,” Hannah said, smiling softly. “Are you okay?”
The little girl looked up, eyes red-rimmed and watery. She wiped her nose with her sleeve and sniffled. “My mom’s late picking me up,” she mumbled. “I think she forgot.”
Hannah sat down beside her, not too close, just enough to let her know she wasn’t alone. “That must feel really hard,” she said. “Do you want to talk about it, or just sit for a bit?”
The girl hesitated, then nodded. “She’s been really busy with my baby brother. I know she loves me, but sometimes… I feel like I don’t matter as much.”
Hannah understood. Sometimes, feelings like that just sat in your heart, making everything feel heavy. She reached into her bag and pulled out a small folded paper. It was a note—a simple, colorful piece of paper with the words You Are Important written in bright letters. She had made a bunch of them after hearing about her friend Compassionate Carlos and his Kindness Rocks project.
She handed the note to the girl. “I keep these around in case someone needs a little reminder,” Hannah said.
The girl held the paper carefully, tracing the letters with her fingers. Slowly, her lips curled into a small smile. “Thanks,” she whispered.
They sat together for a few more minutes, until a car pulled up. A woman stepped out, calling the girl’s name in a flurry of apologies. The girl turned to Hannah. “I think I’m gonna keep this forever,” she said, holding up the note.
Hannah smiled. “I’m glad.”
That night, as Hannah lay in bed, she thought about how something as small as a note could change someone’s day. Compassionate Carlos had his Kindness Rocks. Maybe she could do something too.
The next morning, she pulled out her markers, stickers, and a big stack of colorful paper. She carefully wrote messages like You Matter, You’re Not Alone, and Keep Going, You’ve Got This. Then, she folded each note into little origami shapes—hearts, stars, even tiny paper airplanes.
As she walked to school, she left them in places where people might find them—on benches, inside library books, tucked between the pages of a school notebook left in the hallway.
Over the next few weeks, something amazing happened. People started talking about the notes. Some pinned them on their lockers. Others took pictures and shared them online. A teacher even stopped Hannah in the hallway to tell her that a student who had been feeling down found one of the notes and it made their whole day brighter.
Before long, her friends joined in, writing their own messages and folding them into different shapes. Soon, the town was filled with little Warm Wishes, as people started calling them.
And so, Hopeful Hannah and the Warm Wishes became a new way to spread kindness–as the side-kick of Compassionate Carlos—one small note, one message of hope at a time.