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Dunkirk spreads kindness during October

OBSERVER Photos by Nicole Gugino Dunkirk Mayor Willie Rosas and therapist Melody DeJohn hold kindness rocks, saying “You are strong. Trust me.” and “bailar en la lluvia (dance in the rain)” during Monday’s press conference on the Kindness Rocks Project for Mental Illness Awareness Week.

Kindness can be contagious; changing one person’s outlook, then the entire community’s. At least, that is the hope now that the city of Dunkirk has become involved in the Kindness Rocks Project in partnership with Melody DeJohn, a psychiatric mental health therapist at the Chautauqua County Mental Health Center.

The city held a press conference Monday to announce the project in conjunction with Mental Illness Awareness Week.

“It is important that we as a community come together to recognize and raise awareness of mental illness. Mental health issues are important to address year-round and highlighting them today helps people get the message across in our city,” Mayor Willie Rosas said. “It is important that as city residents we support each other and lift each other up in hard times. The city would like to continue to spread the inspiration and hope through the Kindness Rocks Project that has been spreading throughout northern Chautauqua County.”

DeJohn thanked the mayor for spearheading this project in the city since she has seen first hand the impact it can have.

“It came through a client that brought me a rock and she said to me, ‘It made me calm, Melody. It made me get out of bed the next day.’ I looked at her and said, ‘Oh my God, let me see this rock!’ And then we went from there,” she said of that first rock that read “Just breathe.”

OBSERVER Photo by Nicole Gugino A resident selects a kindness rock that resonates with her. The box will be located at city hall this week and will move to a different location each week in October for mental health awareness.

The box of kindness rocks, which reads “The Kindness Rocks Project, Take 1 – Give 1 – Leave 1, Kindness Is Contagious, 1 Simple Message Can Possibly Change An Entire Outlook On Life,” will remain at city hall this week and will move to a different city location each subsequent week. Those locations include Memorial Park, Bicentennial Park and the Dunkirk Public Library.

Each rock was created by DeJohn’s clients and the Living Life Mental Wellness group and their kids.

“Giving a rock can give someone the hope to try, to make them smile. This is not restrictive, it helps the wealthy, the poor, the working class, all cultures, all religions. … Just giving a little bit of inspiration, you have no clue how many people it would help. … The rocks are there for those who don’t have a voice and don’t speak much. They can grab a rock that says, ‘You’ve got this,’ ‘You are beautiful,’ ‘Don’t quit.’ … A lot of times that’s all we need to hear to help us through so much,” DeJohn said.

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