Inspirational rocks popping up in Port
Since mid-June, inspirational messages painted on small rocks have been popping up across Port Colborne.
They’ve been found on window ledges outside businesses, propped up against trees, across Lock 8 Park, on benches at H.H. Knoll Lakeview Park, in places along the Welland Canal trail and near Bridge 21.
“We aren’t actually hiding them in obscure places,” says Patte McCarthy, who started Port Colborne Rocks. “We place them in spots where we know they will be found.”
The idea came about from a group she’s been following for more than a year called The Kindness Rocks Projects, which started as a pay-it-forward service project created by U.S.-based life coach Megan Murphy in the hope of sparking joy in people’s everyday lives.
“I wanted to partake in a project like it here in Port Colborne for about a year. I’ve been placing a rock here and there since midJune,” says McCarthy, a local artist. “I stopped in to see my friend Bonney Heatherington at work one day in early July and discussed my idea. I was so excited to share but knew I wouldn’t be able to handle it all by myself. She offered to help right away. We both loved the idea of starting a kindness project that everyone can do.”
Heatherington says she and McCarthy have often gone photo shooting along Lake Erie.
“I knew she was a kindred spirit when we both were walking along the shores picking up interesting stones and taking them home. But the day she showed me some stones she had painted on and told me about The Kindness Rocks Project, I was hooked. I finally knew what I was supposed to do with all these rocks I had been bringing home,” says Heatherington.
She says she loved the hide and seek aspect of the rocks, and the idea of surprising people with a little message.
“It started with me and Bonney and now others are joining in,” says McCarthy. “This is for all age groups from young children, to teens, adults and our elders,”
The two women have placed between 30 to 40 stones across the community, and McCarthy says there’s been upwards of 100 placed as others took note of the project.
Says Heatherington, “My first instinct was to do dozens of them and leave them everywhere, but it takes a bit of time to decorate and seal them, so set my personal goal at placing one rock every day of the year. That’s 365 little messages, a possible 365 people whose faces you could bring a smile to.”
McCarthy says you don’t have to be an artist to take part and the rocks don’t have to be painted. She says people can use sharpies to write a kind word or message on a rock.
Adds Heatherington, “I can’t draw, so I decorate mine with inspirational, encouraging or whimsical words or phrases. Acrylic craft paint from the dollar store is all you need or permanent Sharpies are great for words and designs.”
The two women point anyone who wants to take part to the Port Colborne Rocks Facebook page www.facebook.com/Port-ColborneRocks-1942811642626535; McCarthy says people can contact her on her Facebook page www.facebook.com/patte.mccarthy.
When someone finds a rock, they can keep it for themselves, give it to someone, take it and hide it somewhere else, or just leave it where it is for someone else to find. On the back of each rock, it will say Port Colborne Rocks and have an F, short for Facebook. The women say the Facebook page was created so people could upload photos of their rocks and follow their travels.
“We encourage people to create rocks of their own and put Port Colborne Rocks – Find us on Facebook on the back. The finders can go to the page and find tips on how to decorate the rocks and share their pics and comments,” says Heatherington.
McCarthy says people can use other items such as shells and small pieces of driftwood.
“I’ve always been a collector of beach stones so we have an abundance of stones right here in our area. You can buy stones at the dollar store, too,” she says.
“It seems all we hear is bad news, negative comments and a lot of unhappy people. This is a way to make a person smile.
“The feedback we’ve gotten so far is that folks are experiencing pure joy at finding these little rock gems. That makes me happy. I would love to see this totally spread across Canada. It’s already happening in some places. Let’s make this go viral,” she says.