On your next venture to Udder Side ice cream shop or Lake Baw Beese, keep your eyes peeled for colorful stones. These local hang-outs are hotspots for a global trend called kindness rocks — rocks painted with messages and artwork and hidden for lucky Hillsdale residents to find.
The rocks are hidden as part of the Kindness Rocks Project, an initiative started at the end of 2014 by Megan Murphy of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, after both her parents died. Murphy said she would take walks on the beach and find signs of her parents’ guidance in the form of heart-shaped rocks or sea glass lying in the sand.
“Paying attention to how happy these moments made me feel, I thought that maybe I could provide these simple signs for other people as well,” Murphy said in an email.
Murphy started painting rocks with inspirational messages and placing them around her city for others to find in their times of struggle. In March 2015, she started a social media campaign to inspire others on a universal platform to do the same. Now, people of all ages in cities around the country participate.
“I think it is truly amazing and magical that this project has grown into an international movement,” Murphy said. “This is not as a result of me. I was simply the seed that planted this amazing garden that continues to grow.”
Jonesville resident Christina Jensen, who began participating in July, made the global project local with a Facebook group called “Hillsdale County Rocks.”
Parents post their children’s freshly-painted rock creations on the page with a clue alluding to their hiding spots. Finders share photos of unique rocks they’ve stumbled upon along with their locations.
Ebony Black, a page administrator, posted about how rock-hunting helps local businesses because it encourages her family to stop at places like ice cream shops while out and about.
Last month in downtown Hillsdale, gaming and comic book store Kingdom Geekdom hosted a Paint and Take event. Volunteers dressed as superheroes and princesses helped local children paint creations on rocks to be hidden wherever their hearts desired. Hillsdale Craft Supply provided the paints and Hoop Lawn and Garden donated the rocks that guests used to create their messages of kindness.
“It gets kids excited because it is so hands-on,” said Alison McDowell, owner of Kingdom Geekdom. “The only screen time is parents using Facebook to show their children where their rocks may have showed up.”
Members of the Facebook page share when and where they’ve found rocks with markings showing that they come from all over the state or country.
“The rocks really are everywhere — they even show up on the changing tables in our bathroom,” McDowell said.
Dayna Stebbins, a resident of Hillsdale, said she found a rock all the way from Pensacola, Florida while with her 6-year-old daughter Maryn at Menards home improvement center in Jackson, Michigan.
Stebbins said her daughter loves to find the rocks and gets excited to discover the words and pictures painted on them.
Sophomore Domine Clemons said she witnessed the movement in her hometown of Naples, Florida, particularly at Skillet’s restaurant, where she is a hostess.
The restaurant uses the rocks to spread awareness for different foundations, such as an anti-child abuse organization.
“I ran into a lot of people who would see one of our stones and it would spark curiosity about the causes,” Clemons said. “It’s different than seeing a regular sign or poster because it catches your eye when you find something like a colorful stone with a message you weren’t expecting.”
For Hillsdale’s population of barely more than 8,300 people, a pop of color and a dash of wonder appeal to adults and kids alike.
“It helps the kids understand that Hillsdale is a bigger place than it may seem,” McDowell said. “It really brightens people’s days.”