Stoney Kind Kids Award, Kindness Fund honor legacy of of Chuck Stone

Bucyrus Secondary and Elementary School students received Stoney Kind Kids award, and along with titles, they got T-shirts and Subway gift cards.

The award was distributed in Bucyrus City Schools for the second year after it was introduced by the family of Chuck Stone, who died in January 2022. His son, Chris, said they selected kindness as the theme of the award because it's something that is lacking in the modern world.

“Today we don’t celebrate the good enough,” Stone said. “The more kids are celebrated for the good, the more good they’ll do.”

The Stone family distributes the award every month to two students in the Bucyrus Secondary School and two students in the Bucyrus Elementary School. The T-shirts read “I’m a kind kid” on the front and have a caricature of Chuck Stone on the back.

“My dad, he coached here, he volunteered here, and so we thought what better place to do this than right here at home,” said Chris Stone.

He said factors that influenced the family's decision to introduce the award were Chuck Stone's exceptional kindness and grace, and the family wanted to continue his legacy.

“We wanted to honor him and his legacy of being kind to others,” Chris Stone said. “And we wanted to recognize kids for doing the right thing and for being kind to others.”

Stoney Kindness Fund is twofold

The Stoney Award has two parts. The Kind Kids award distributed in the Bucyrus City Schools every month comes from the Stone family pocket. However, in addition the family started a fund called the Stoney Kindness Fund, to honor Chuck’s memory.

“When dad passed away, and there was money that was given in his name, and instead of starting a scholarship, we started what’s called the Stoney Kindness Fund,” Chris Stone said.

Sandy Stone said the fundraising started at Chuck Stone’s funeral, where between $5,000 and $7,000 was raised. In June 2023, the Community Foundation for Crawford County registered the Stoney Kindness Fund as its 100th fund.

The fund is at around $24,500, and once it reaches the $25,000 mark, it will be considered endowed, and the Bucyrus City Schools will start to reap the benefits.

"Right now, the family's just in the process of growing it to get to endowment level," said foundation President Lisa Workman. "Once it's there, then once a year, the amount that's allotted to come out of that fund will go right to the Bucyrus City School District.”

Chris Stone said the family decided it would be fair to allow school counselors and officials to distribute the donations received from the fund among the students according to needs.

The needs can include buying equipment for participating in career orientation programs, such as welding helmets and gloves, buying personal hygiene items or even outfits for career interviews.

More: 100 funds: Community Foundation for Crawford County celebrates milestone

“The school counselors are the ones that ultimately decide how the money gets spent because along with the building administrators they work so closely with these kids,” said Chris Stone.

He said the reason the family started the fund was to psychologically recover from the loss of their loved one, and to continue the legacy of his father who never gave up on anyone.

Kind Kids Award meant to be an incentive

The Kind Kids award might seem less financially significant, but it is instrumental in incentivizing a positive climate and the culture in the school system and beyond the school system – in the community in general.

“Because teachers and staff members are being intentional about looking for this,” said Chris Stone. “It’s the ripple effect or the butterfly effect – a butterfly flaps its wings in one place, and you don’t feel it, but you feel it on the other side of the world.”

Bucyrus City Schools Curriculum Director Jonathan Muro agreed that these days students need to know “good things happen when you do good things.”

Sandy Stone said the family decided to introduce the award in the Bucyrus City Schools even though Chuck Stone taught in Marion City Schools and Tri-Rivers Career Center because he went to Bucyrus City Schools himself and coached there.

The Bucyrus City Schools staff and teachers helped Chuck Stone to become what he wanted to be in life despite his difficult childhood, said Chris Stone said.

For example, once in his sophomore year, Chuck Stone's basketball coach was driving him to school “to make sure that he got where he needed to go” because he once noticed Chuck was walking to the high school.

“He never forgot that,” said Chris Stone. “They said it takes a village to raise a child, and without this village my dad would not have been the man that he was.”

One of the things the Bucyrus City Schools helped Chuck Stone achieve was playing college football for North Carolina State University. Sandy Stone said Chuck was so proud of where he came from he even bought a Bucyrus Redmen beanie.

“He was proud of where he came from,” said Sandy Stone. “He was proud to call Bucyrus home.”

This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Stone family awards praise Bucyrus students' acts of goodwill