Happiness Sprinkling Project Coming to Suzanne Middle School

By Kelli Gile

Walnut – On Mar. 18 at Suzanne Middle School, a group of smiling people wearing bright yellow shirts were Sprinkling Happiness.

Created by Laura Lavigne, founder of the Anacortes Center for Happiness, The Happiness Sprinkling Project is “crazy simple and crazy powerful.”

A group of people get together, wearing bright yellow shirts. They gather at a busy spot in the town where they live.  They hold up Happiness Signs. Signs that say things like, “It’s Going to be All Right,” “Breathe,” and “You are Loved.”

They do this for an hour and as they do, magic happens. People being “sprinkled” on their way home from work are surprised, puzzled…and moved.  They smile, they wave, and they honk. Many join in and start some Sprinkling themselves.

The messages are surprising because they ask nothing of the viewer, but instead send an unexpected burst of light, helping people tap into their own hope, strength and joy.

Drama, PALS, and PLUS students were leaders on the day of happiness, sharing positive messages with parents and students on campus, and local seniors.

The Sprinklings started in May 2012, and have been spreading like “happiness.” They have been received with a mix of surprise, delight and occasionally tears of emotion.

In the past few months, Happiness Ambassadors have popped up in Washington DC, Chicago, California, Oregon, Seattle, Florida, Indiana, and Canada. Together they are gradually building a “Happiness Sprinkling Tribe” whose vision is to expand into inner cities and eventually all over the world; they have recently received requests from India, Italy, Germany and the Caribbean.

This growing movement is building a web of Happiness Ambassadors and Happiness Sprinklers, and changing the world one gathering at a time. One of the powerful aspects of this event is that the sets of signs get shipped from one Ambassador to the next, thus forming a global “Happiness Chain Letter,” adopting a very simple Pay It Forward concept.

The Happiness Sprinkling Project has been featured on the GoodNews Network, DailyGood.org, NBC, CBS News, The Huffington Post, Ellen DeGeneres’ blog, and the TEDx platform.

Anyone is invited join in and participate in this powerful and FUN event!  For more information, email info@happinesssprinklingproject.org, or call (360) 464-2229. The Suzanne Middle School contact is teacher, Helen Papadopoulos, (909) 594-1657.