Compassionate Winston-Salem's Dean Clifford tells
students about the Compassion Corner as Sedge
Garden Principal Ramona Warren looks on.
(Left) Sedge Garden students pose with-their
school's new Compassion Corner.
Elementary school gains place of compassion
BY TODD LUCK
THE CHRONICLE
Students or adults who are sad can sit
on a seat to signal for others to come over
to try to cheer them up after a dedication
earlier this month.
Compassionate Winston-Salem and
students at Sedge Garden Elementary
School in Kemersville dedicated the latest
Compassion Comer on Thursday, March
24.
The Compassion Comer is an L
shaped bench. For the last two school
years, Compassionate Winston-Salem has
placed benches at Moore, Bolton, Old
Town, Petree, Diggs-Latham, Vienna and
Ibraham elementary schools. All benches
are built by a volunteer team from
Epiphany Lutheran Church. Most were
sponsored by individual churches, with the
Sedge Garden one paid for by
Compassionate Winston-Salem itself.
"Whether you're a kid or an adult, if
you're sitting on that bench you're sending
a signal, 'Hey folks, I need some good
friends today, today is just not my best
day,"' Compassionate Winston-Salem's
Dean Clifford told young students who had
gathered outside for the dedication.
Compassionate Winston-Salem is a
program of Interfaith Winston-Salem that
came out of the 2013 signing of the
Charter of Compassion that made
Winston-Salem the 18th city in the world
and the first in North Carolina to become a
City of Compassion. As its name suggests.
the group hopes to promote compassion
and kindness with the benches.
"We thought one of the ways we could
promote that was to be sure that every
school eventually has a concrete place on
campus that reminds everyone to be kind
to each other," said Clifford.
Every school decorates its Compassion
Corner differently. Sedge Garden's white
bench has the word "Love" painted on it
and is covered in overlapping student
handprints in a multitude of colors.
Sedge Garden Principal Ramona
Warren said the bench goes well with the
school's participation in Rachel's
Challenge. The challenge is named after
Rachel Scott, the first victim in the 1999
Columbine High School shooting and was
founded by her father, Darrell Scott, to.
encourage kindness and prevent bullying.
Sedge Garden is one of more than 1,200
schools and businesses that have used the
program.
"When Dean came to us with the
bench, it was the perfect complement to
what we've been doing," said Warren.
Jake Fedele, a fifth grader who is stu
dent government president, was one of the
many students who worked on the bench.
He was glad to see his school get the
bench.
"It's a good idea," he said.
The next planned Compassion Corner,
which is funded with a grant from the
Adam Foundation, will be dedicated later
this spring at Montessori School of
Winston-Salem.
Principal Ramona Warren talks about the new Compassion Corner at Sedge
Garden Elementary School.
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