CASCO — A Windham family is using the holidays to help their 3-year-old son learn more about kindness. 

Katie Gagnon says that she has created an “advent calendar” of sorts for her son Grayson that marks a daily act of kindness up until Christmas.

“Most of the things we do are very small,” said Gagnon. Grayson has helped put his baby sister to bed, helped with dinner and told friends what he likes about them, for example.

Having him complete the tasks allows Grayson to “learn what kindness is” at an age when “he’s obviously very singularly focused,” Gagnon said.   

Grayson describes his project as “making people happy.”

The idea for it came from a “combination of Pinterest and mom blogs,” Gagnon said.

In one of his larger acts of kindness, Grayson paid a visit to the Windham Public Safety Building to bring breakfast to police officers and firefighters.

“I bringed them donuts and cake,” he said, proudly showing off a challenge coin the Windham Police gave him.

He also participated in a “Blessing Bags” event at the Casco Inn senior residential care facility. 

The Dec. 14 event was organized by Melinda Meuser, whose husband Garret is the pastor at the Casco Alliance Church just west of the Casco Inn on Route 302.

As part of the event, Grayson and several other children including the Meuser’s daughter Nora, 7, and son Emerson, 5, helped hand out holiday gift bags to the Casco Inn seniors and sang holiday songs with them. 

“It’s so uplifting – it’s so Christmas,” said Casco Inn activities director Sharon Hadley. 

“It’s a special event. Just look at their faces,” she said about the residents during the sing-a-long. 

Resident Donna Auld had a big smile for a lot of the festivities, and said after,  “I think it was very cute.”

She happily agreed to take a photo with Grayson Gagnon, who like a lot of 3-year-olds, was somewhat shy and occasionally distracted during what otherwise would have been his nap time.

But when Auld explained what was in the gift bag she received and thanked him for it, Gagnon began opening up. 

He seemed interested in her oxygen tube, and his mother explained that he also used an inhaler. 

“You’re just like me,” Auld told him smiling. 

Gagnon explained to Auld that as part of the ongoing project, her son has a conversation with her and his dad, Jon, at dinner each night, where he tells a story about that day’s act of kindness. 

“You’re story for today is that you talked to somebody named Donna,” Auld told him. 

Matt Junker can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 123 or mjunker@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @MattJunker.

Grayson Gagnon and his mother Katie Gagnon met Donna Auld, right, at the Casco Inn as part of Grayson’s effort to do a daily act of kindness during the holidays.