Once word about the Kindness Ninjas gets out, there's no telling where it might lead.  

This time it led to inspiration for the Zone 5 male hockey team to make a difference in the lives of homeless people living in Calgary.  

Yesterday (February 16) some of the Kindergarten students who make up the Kindness Ninjas at Windsong Heights School in Airdrie were called along with their parents and teachers to a hockey arena in Airdrie where the Zone 5 team from the Yellowhead region of Alberta wanted to meet with them.

The KIndness Ninjas had been featured on a television news report when they invited hockey legend Lanny McDonald to come to their class to become an honourary member of the Ninjas.  McDonald had heard of the Ninjas project to donate 96 purple fleece blankets to the homeless on the streets of Calgary.

The hockey team was already looking to do acts of kindness in the community and, they challenged their parents to join their cause.  One of the parents saw the report about the Ninjas and took the idea to do something to help the Ninjas to the rest of the parents and team members.  

Windsong Heights Kindergarten teacher, and leader of the Kindness Ninjas, Allie Appels, picks up the story from there.

"

We got a call from them at the school and we really didn't know what was going to happen.  They just asked if some of our teachers and some of the Kindness Ninjas could meet them at the arena after their game.  We didn't know what kind of turnout we'd get but we actually had quite a few of out little Kindness Ninjas and their families there quite excited about what was about to unfold."

What was about to unfold was a presentation by every team member of a yellow fleece blanket to the Kindness Ninjas to continue their mission of spreading love and kindness to the less fortunate.  Yellow is the team's colour. 

Appels said the Ninjas were very excited to get the donation.  In fact, it brightened their week after they had been kind of sad to see the project come to, what they believed, was the end. 

"They were sad because they thought that our Blankets of Hope journey had come to an end.  On Thursday we wrote letters to attach to our other blankets, we had 96 purple blankets that went out into the streets of Calgary on Friday.  This year we also made sandwiches to go along with them.  So I think they were sad that this journey and all the preparation that led up to it was done so they were quite excited to see that our journey is, in fact, not over."

Appels herself is excited to know that her small students could be so inspiring to others.  "I think it's pretty incredible that a group of five and six-year-olds can inspire a whole hockey team and their parents."

Inspiring others to acts of kindness is one thing, but the Kindness Ninjas just may have inspired the Zone 5 hockey team in fashion as well.  "The Cowboys were about to head out to Michael's to find some yellow felt because they want to make their own Kindness Ninja headbands in their own team colours,: Appels said.  "So we thought that was pretty cute."

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