[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1565 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1565

 Expressing support for the designation of the third Thursday of April 
as ``Rachel's Challenge: A Day of Kindness and Compassion'' in honor of 
  the triumph and hope stemming from the life of Rachel Scott and in 
             memoriam of the Columbine High School tragedy.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 28, 2010

 Mr. Hall of Texas (for himself and Mr. Coffman of Colorado) submitted 
   the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
                          Education and Labor

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing support for the designation of the third Thursday of April 
as ``Rachel's Challenge: A Day of Kindness and Compassion'' in honor of 
  the triumph and hope stemming from the life of Rachel Scott and in 
             memoriam of the Columbine High School tragedy.

Whereas Rachel Scott was born on August 5, 1981, and passed away on April 20, 
        1999;
Whereas Rachel Scott was the first victim of the Columbine tragedy who through 
        acts of kindness and compassion sparked the inspiration for Rachel's 
        Challenge, a nationwide school outreach program for the prevention of 
        teen violence that empowers people, recognizes and celebrates doing the 
        right thing, focuses on healthy, happy, well-balanced students, and 
        builds healthy communities;
Whereas Rachel Scott drew an outline of her hand on the back of her dresser and 
        wrote, ``These hands belong to Rachel Joy Scott and will someday touch 
        millions of people's hearts'';
Whereas Rachel Scott was beloved by her family, friends, fellow students, 
        teachers, and administrators for her generosity, good humor, spirited 
        charm, and the belief that kindness and compassion could be contagious 
        and life changing;
Whereas Rachel Scott wrote a challenge to the world through an essay she titled, 
        ``My Ethics, My Codes of Life'' just a month before she was killed;
Whereas in this essay she challenged people by saying, ``I have this theory that 
        if one person can go out of their way to show compassion, then it will 
        start a chain reaction of the same. People will never know how far a 
        little kindness can go'';
Whereas Rachel Scott left an example of kindness and compassion as one of the 
        most inspirational students in the United States by reaching out to 
        students who were handicapped, new to school, or picked on or put down 
        by others, and her actions are now being replicated by millions of 
        people;
Whereas Rachel Scott was posthumously awarded the 2001 National Kindness Award 
        as Student of the Year by the Acts of Kindness Association;
Whereas Rachel Scott, through her humanitarian work, leaves an incomparable 
        legacy serving as an inspiration for kindness and compassion and will 
        never be forgotten;
Whereas Rachel Scott once said, ``How do you know that trust, compassion, and 
        beauty will not make this world a better place'';
Whereas Rachel Scott through the work of her dad, Darrell Scott, and Rachel's 
        Challenge, was awarded the National Education Association of New York 
        Friend of Education Award;
Whereas Rachel's Challenge has directly impacted over 13,000,000 people since 
        1999, prevented hundreds of suicides, documented the prevention of 
        school shootings and incidence of violence, and inspired over 1,000 
        service clubs, involving hundreds of thousands of students, that have 
        been created in her memory in schools across the United States and are 
        impacting innumerable communities;
Whereas Rachel's Challenge extends Rachel Scott's challenge of kindness and 
        compassion to all students through national and international multimedia 
        campaigns and broadcasts;
Whereas Rachel's Challenge will cosponsor on May 6, 2010, the packaging of over 
        1,000,000 meals for Haiti in 1 day, and each year from this point 
        forward on the third Thursday of April the world record for packaging 
        meals will be broken again and again; and
Whereas the third Thursday of April would be an appropriate date to designate as 
        ``Rachel's Challenge: A Day of Kindness and Compassion'' to bring 
        awareness to kindness, compassion, and service to world hunger: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) supports the designation of ``Rachel's Challenge: A Day 
        of Kindness and Compassion'';
            (2) honors the life and accomplishments of Rachel Scott and 
        her challenge to start a chain reaction of kindness and 
        compassion;
            (3) recognizes Rachel's Challenge for delivering Rachel 
        Scott's legacy to the world; and
            (4) remembers the victims of the Columbine school tragedy, 
        their families and friends, and all the people impacted.
                                 <all>