NORWAY — The Kindness Rocks Project is not anything new. According to Wikipedia it launched on Cape Cod, either in 2015 when one resident left a rock painted with the message “you’ve got this” on the beach, or back during the 1960s when another began sending painted rocks to friends. Wiki is not always correct so maybe the world will never know its origin.
But social media has made it a viral trend, a way to send kindness ripples through the community.
Katherine’s Bakery & Cafe is now home to a “rock reef,” where people can pick up and contribute painted kindness rocks to others in the community. Nicole Carter / Advertiser Democrat
You may have seen a painted rock here or there around Oxford Hills, at a playground, a shopping center parking lot or in a street side flower bed. And thanks to Katherine Olinkiewicz, there is now a steady supply of kindness rocks making their way about town.
Olinkiewicz, owner of Katherie’s Bakery & Cafe, caught a glance of a kindness rock garden while scrolling through Facebook and decided to partake in the movement as well. And doing it one or two rocks at a time was the not the scale she wanted.
Instead, she ordered 1,000 rocks online and had them delivered. Now it is up to the community to help her spread the kindness.
“I call it a rock reef,” Olinkiewicz explained to the Advertiser Democrat. “It goes with my store’s theme of the ocean.
“It’s just to help motivate. If someone is having a bad time, it’s just something to look at that means something. It’s a sad world sometimes and we need to uplift our spirits, I guess is the best way to say it.”
The Facebook post she saw showed a garden, in Alabama, full of colorfully painted rocks.
“I decided to put my own spin on it, based on what I like,” she said.
Olinkiewicz set up a basin of rocks near the front entrance of the bakery, with a poster encouraging passerby to take a painted rock for inspiration, share one for motivation, or leave one to help grow the bakery’s rock reef.
“Let’s paint this town with kindness!” the poster declares.
While Maine abounds with rocks, Olinkiewicz did not have a huge supply on hand, nor the time to gather them. So she turned to the internet and placed an order for 1,000 polished rocks, ranging from a half to three inches in diameter.
Amazon and Amazon Prime do offer free shipping on rocks, in case you were wondering.
“I feel like Oxford county is going through a really hard time,” she said, referencing substance use disorder and behavioral health issues she sees people around her experiencing. “It’s a [small way] to help others who are feeling down.”
With Katherine’s Bakery & Cafe closed for the day, Nicole Groves (left) and owner Katherine Olinkiewicz take a few minutes to paint some kindness rocks to replenish Olinkiewicz’s rock reef at the entrance of the store. Nicole Carter / Advertiser Democrat
The painted rock reef was “seeded” with rocks Olinkiewicz and her staff colored, each person contributing seven to get things rolling. Now, a couple of weeks later, the painted starter rocks have been claimed, people have brought rocks of their own to leave and all are invited to take a seat at one of the tables inside the bakery and paint whatever they wish on a rock.
In addition to the rocks, Olinkiewicz’s bakery is also stocked with 250 colors of paint pens to decorate them.
They are free for anyone to take and for anyone to contribute.
“I want to make something beautiful,” Olinkiewicz said. “Something to help make people happy.”
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