JoCo twins who moved to Parkland get ‘sweet notes’ of hope on tragic anniversary
Caspen Becher had just been given a candy bar adorned with a kind note in a Marjory Stoneman Douglas classroom on a difficult day — the one year anniversary of the mass shooting at the school.
But it wasn’t until the high school sophomore’s teacher casually announced that the special treat was from Kansas that Caspen’s heart “just jumped.”
“Cas” and twin brother Michael grew up in Overland Park and attended Cedar Hills Elementary and Pleasant Ridge Middle School in the Blue Valley school district. When their dad got a new job, they moved to Parkland, Fla., entering the high school as freshmen for the 2016-17 school year.
A quick online search revealed the treats were from Johnson County — the brainchild of Lenexa’s Missy Pint, who delivered 3,500 candy bars with notes of inspiration and hope from local students to Parkland earlier this month.
And the message stuck to a chocolate bar and written in a child’s shaky handwriting had special meaning, particularly for Cas, who had become a more vocal advocate since the shooting on Feb. 14, 2018.
“Change doesn’t come in Nickles and dimes,” the note read. “It comes in dedication and sweat.”
The note brought Cas, who will soon be 16, to tears.
“Since last February we’ve been working very hard to bring change to America and it DOESN’T come in nickles and dimes (though those can help. Please donate to March for Our Lives,)” Cas quipped in a text to The Star.
But the message was still welcome for the teenager, who has participated in events like a Mar-a-lago “die-in,” a protest in which students simulated being dead, since last year.
“Trsut me, all of us have been dedicated since last February,” Cas said.
Michael didn’t realize his candy and note — “Have an amazing day! Thoughts and prayers with you today <3 Elizabeth (9th)“ — was from a Kansas student until he arrived home.
But he too was moved, said mom Casey Becher.
“It was just so touching,” she said. “It was having this piece of home.”
Students from the Johnson County Parks and Recreation after-school program, as well as Sunflower Elementary, Blue Valley North, Shawnee Mission North and St. Thomas Aquinas, participated in “The Sweet Note Project,” what Pint said she hoped would be a small gesture of support for a school community still going through a hard time.
But she couldn’t have known the messages would reach former Blue Valley students still reeling from the tragedy.
Becher said it has been a trying and tumultuous year for her children, who still attend weekly therapy following the shooting that took the lives of 17 students and staff.
On that day last year, Cas was visiting a JROTC class when the fire alarm was pulled. Cas started heading toward the 1200 building, where the shooter was roaming the halls, but a custodian turned students around and had 60 or 70 of them pack into the culinary room.
Michael had been in Spanish class and was evacuating down the stairs when an assistant principal grabbed him. Michael took refuge in a conference room, his mother said, ducking down as he entered, in case of bullets.
“It affected them tremendously,” Becher said. “Even now. You just don’t realize how long the impact is going to last.”
It’s this understanding — that everyone at the high school had been irrevocably changed — that helped inspire the sweet notes, Pint said. When she and a Parkland friend delivered the candy bars to the school earlier this month, Pint said she encountered the picketers, police officers and news crews that Marjory Stoneman kids endure each day.
“It was difficult to see that,” Pint told The Star earlier this month. “But it made me really happy to know that even if it was just for a moment, these kids were going to read this message and get a chocolate bar.”
Becher said she wanted to share a message of gratitude to Pint and all who participated in the project.
“Thank you, thank you for still thinking of us,” Becher said. “It’s just meant so much. Thank you for rallying these kids together.”
Cas also echoed words of thanks.
“To Missy and everyone who worked on the project, thank you,” Cas said. “It has brought a piece of home to a tragic place.”
This story was originally published February 26, 2019 at 5:30 AM.
