Ripples of Kindness

By Kristina Light

There’s an old story of a boy who tossed a pebble in a river, creating ripples that stretched from shore to shore. Kindness works the same way—one act of generosity creates ripples beyond our wildest imaginations.

When Shirley Tolbert teaches a child that a scrap of yarn can become a bookmark, she’s planting seeds of resourcefulness and care. When Bonnie LaPointe gathers neighborhood children to bake cookies or guides their hands through sewing pillowcases for displaced kids, she’s passing on something far more valuable than recipes or stitching techniques. These two women haven’t just spent their retirement years serving others; they’ve created ripples of compassion. Community volunteers now make 120 sandwiches weekly because LaPointe showed them how. Children across Cass County learn they are valued when Tolbert crafts gifts from materials others discarded. This is the quiet mathematics of generosity: two women, countless hours, and exponential impact as their example inspires others to make our community a better place.

Shirley Tolbert: A Kid Fanatic’s Mission

For Shirley Tolbert, retirement could have meant slowing down. Instead, it became the beginning of a mission that has touched hundreds of children across Cass County.

“I didn’t want to throw my life away. When he died, I died too. But I had to keep living,” Tolbert said, reflecting on the death of her husband in 2000. “So I started doing charity wherever I could find it.”

The retired medical assistant, who spent her career in pediatrics, describes herself as a “Kid Fanatic.” Growing up as an only child of three generations in Kansas City, Tolbert developed a special attachment to children that carried through her professional life and now defines her retirement years. Her three daughters and one son, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchild, age two, represent five generations living in her family.

The Raymore resident has spent years crocheting and loom-knitting hats, scarves, fingerless gloves, phone bags, and scrunchies for children participating in Shop with a Cop programs in Harrisonville, Belton, and Raymore. This all began unexpectedly at a neighbor’s yard sale, where she offered to buy an entire supply of yarn. The homeowner’s son, who worked with the Harrisonville Police Department, suggested she make items for Shop with a Cop. After meeting with the Chief of Police and enlisting help from friends at her church,

Tolbert found her calling.

This year alone, she created 180 sets of handmade items, spending approximately two and a half hours just on each hat. She begins each January with her loom knitting, working steadily through the year to ensure every child receives something special.
Shop with a Cop events are held each December at locations across Cass County, where officers pair with children in need for an afternoon of shopping, meals, and community connection. The programs now serve nearly two hundred children annually. Each child receives warm accessories from Tolbert: a hat, gloves, a phone bag, a lap-ghan, a bookmark, and a scrunchie for girls and a key fob for the boys.

Additionally, the children are gifted a shopping allowance to select gifts for their families. The events feature Santa, gift wrapping stations, and essentials like coats and toothbrushes. For many participating children, it’s the highlight of their holidays. Officers form lasting connections with the children they shop with, demonstrating that the community cares.

“I’m determined there’s no waste,” Tolbert explained. When she receives donated yarn—and many community members donate—she uses every scrap. Larger pieces become hats, medium remnants transform into lap-ghans (her word for crocheted lap blankets), and even the smallest bits find purpose as bookmarks. She recalls one child asking what the bookmark was. She held it up and explained it was to remind them to study.

“Most of my projects are from what others donated or threw away,” she said. This resourcefulness reflects a deeper philosophy: everything has value when it can bring comfort to someone else.

Tolbert’s days are structured around her craft. She crochets daily, working from her bed each evening while watching television. Beyond Shop with a Cop, Tolbert has made 2,500 pillows for chemotherapy patients, blankets and caps for infants who didn’t survive birth, and blue ribbon quilts hand-painted with acrylics. For 18 years, she cooked and baked pies for the Belton Fire Department until her oven died, and the department, appreciative of her contributions, bought her a new one.

Tolbert has kept a book of thank-you notes over the years from mayors, churches, children, and the Cancer Society. Each note represents a moment of connection. Her commitment hasn’t gone unnoticed by law enforcement either—she’s become friends with many officers across Cass County. “There’s nothing they wouldn’t do for me,” she notes. “I always just asked for a thank you.”

Bonnie LaPointe: From Classroom to Community Kitchen

Bonnie LaPointe does not describe her work as remarkable. “It’s what I like to do,” she said. Yet through years of steady service, the retired teacher has quietly built a network of care that stretches across Kansas City, Belton, and Johnson County.

Her minister once identified her as a “hostess”—someone who notices what is needed and responds with comfort and care. That instinct, honed through decades of teaching in Kansas City schools and at Barstow, now shapes her retirement through cooking, collecting, crocheting, teaching, and recycling.

One of her most visible efforts is crocheting sleeping mats for people experiencing homelessness. Made from recycled plastic grocery bags, the mats measure approximately six by four feet and insulate against cold, damp ground. LaPointe collects bags, cuts them into strips, and crochets each mat by hand, turning discarded materials into something practical and protective. Each mat requires hundreds of bags and many hours of work.

Food access is equally central to her work. LaPointe coordinates volunteers who prepare approximately 120 sandwiches each week for Belton Hot Soup—about eleven per loaf, split between bologna and peanut butter. She hard-boils four dozen eggs and gathers chips and fruit, transporting everything weekly. Local businesses contribute food donations as well. Her attention to detail extends to distribution—when volunteers learned some recipients couldn’t eat apples due to dental issues, they added easier options like bananas.

The sandwich ministry grew from necessity during the Covid pandemic when a restaurant closed, and its owners began making food for those in need. LaPointe became involved, and that effort eventually connected her with Belton Hot Soup, where she is now among the volunteers who organize, prepare, serve, and distribute meals every Tuesday. One evening as she was serving meals, she met an individual with a daughter named Bonnie—a detail that stayed with her and reinforced the personal nature of the work.

Education remains central to LaPointe’s purpose. Every six weeks, she collects glass from neighbors for Purple Ripple, a Johnson County Community College program funded through recycling, with proceeds benefiting students in need. She pairs these trips with clothing donations to Hillcrest Thrift, where proceeds fund programs helping individuals and families transition from homelessness to sustainable independence.

Through the Red Bridge Social Club and community involvement, LaPointe is always finding ways to give back and connect with others in the community. Her teaching gift continues close to home. She befriends neighborhood children, teaching them to bake treats for others—Black Cat cookies at Halloween, chocolates at Christmas. She also instructed a group of children to sew, guiding small hands through each step as they created pillowcases for children displaced from their homes. The pillowcases were more than fabric; they were personal gifts, stitched with care, meant to bring comfort to children facing upheaval.

By teaching neighborhood children to bake or sew for others, she’s inspiring a generation to understand service. Her creativity in finding ways to give back is truly remarkable. LaPointe’s greatest gift may be how she multiplies compassion, inviting others to discover giving.