In a world with no shortage of people to call attention to bad news, it's about time kindness had its own calling card.

Make that thousands of calling cards.

Children in the Kids 4 Kids Club at Jack Gordon Elementary School in Kendall have created "Random Acts of Kindness" cards to recognize nice people doing nice things.

One side of each card includes original artwork by one of the 250 students in the club, while the other has a message. It says: "You just performed a random act of kindness. I noticed, and want to thank you for helping to make our community and our world a better place. Please enjoy the artwork on the other side, created by a child, and pass this card along to someone you see performing a random act of kindness."

The project is the idea of Lynne Cameron, executive director of Neighbors 4 Neighbors, a nonprofit group affiliated with WFOR-Ch. 4 that connects people in need with those willing to help. The cards were handed out at a sneak preview of the new movie Pay It Forward.

In the film, a middle school student accepts an extra-credit assignment to create a plan for world change and put it into action. The student's plan calls for each person to perform three random acts of kindness and ask the recipients not to pay it back, but to pay it forward with three more kind acts.

The students in the Kids 4 Kids Club, comprised of second- through fifth-graders, did not attend the Pay It Forward screening because it is rated PG-13. Instead, their teacher, Beth Davis, and volunteers distributed the first 800 cards to moviegoers.

"People were so excited they wanted to take two cards so they could keep one," Davis says.

Davis and her students hope an outbreak of kindness carries the cards all over South Florida.

The children drew whatever they wanted on the cards. "We just thought of it out of our own minds," said Devin Carter, 8, a third-grader.

"We just said, `If someone handed you a card because you did something special, what would you want to be on the card?'" Davis says.

The cards are expressive, original and fun, in the spirit of their creators' innocence. There's a rising sun with "Be Very Kind" emblazoned across it, a black child and white child holding hands under the words, "You did the right thing," and an Olympic gold medal that just says, "Good job."

The kids had a great time drawing the cards.

"I like the ones with the hearts and rainbows," says second-grader Anne Marie Zanbrano, 7.

So what qualifies as an act of kindness? The children had plenty of suggestions.

"Maybe cleaning up?" one said.

"Helping another person," said another, "like when they need someone to open the door."

"Caring about another person," a third offered.

The students hope kindness catches on and that the cards change hands many times.

"They'll never come back. They'll just keep going forward," Davis says.

Cameron says she's wanted to do the kindness cards for about seven years, but the movie and Gordon Elementary's Kids 4 Kids Club offered the perfect opportunity. She says another 2,000 cards will be finished soon.

"I can't begin to tell you how much this means to me. To see it happen and to see this great artwork, I think it is just wonderful," she says.

Davis says she's happy to share the idea with anyone interested. (She can be reached at 786-242-5437, or check the club's Web site at www.kids4kids.org. Those interested in getting some cards may call Cameron at 305-593-8402.)

Davis handed out the first card before she even made it to the movie. She was fumbling with an armload of cards and pamphlets in the theater parking lot when a man stopped to assist her. So she gave him a card.

"He was reading it as he walked away," she says. "And then he just sort of turned around and smiled."

Which is precisely the point.

David Meeks can be reached at dmeeks@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4726.

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