October is bullying prevention month, but what if instead of trying to stop bullying, we worked to spread peace and kindness?

Peace and kindness are the subjects of generationOn’s latest initiative, The Martin Richard Bridge Builder campaign, which calls on kids and teens to do service projects or acts of kindness in honor of Martin Richard, the 8-year-old boy who was killed as the second of two bombs went off at the Boston Marathon in 2013.

In the days after the bombing, a photo of Martin holding a handmade poster that read, "No more hurting people - Peace" touched countless hearts. Martin was known as a “bridge builder” in his school and someone who believed in fairness, kindness and inclusion.

Whether it’s planting a peace garden, making a peace poster, holding a peace summit or simply inviting someone new to sit at a school lunch table, there are many easy ways for your students to spread peace and kindness.

Visit https://generationon.org/peace to access peace and kindness themed lesson plans from Learning to Give, ten project guides created by youth for youth and reflection materials to help your students think about how their service made a difference and contributed to creating a culture of caring in your school.

Check out four of the ten projects below!

• Collective thinking: Create a wall where youth can write/reflect on what peace and kindness mean to them/their community.
• No Bully Peace Summit: Involve students in reducing bullying on campus, and promoting peace.
• Small Acts, Big Impact: Support students in complete daily journaling activities and acts of kindness to reflect on the good things in life and spread happiness.
• Words Matter: Encourage students to develop pen-pal relationships with veterans or write letters to kids who are sick.

Join generationOn this October to prevent bullying by spreading peace and kindness!  Remember to share your story at www.generationon.org/peace  to be entered to win 1 of 20 $250 grants to support continued community service!