Mysterious signs bearing messages of hope and joy have appeared all over town. Pictures of the signs with sayings such as “You Matter” in both English and French began being shared on various social media platforms. But, where did they come from?

Chairra Nicolle, The Executive Director for Helping Hands Society of Cochrane & Area sheds some light on who is responsible “So I'll start off by saying, I also have my son here, McKinnon Draper, who is one of the students that created the signs with his class and another grade three-four class from Elizabeth Barrett. Students created signs in partners to spread kindness and joy and just some cheer around the community at a time when we really need it.”

“There are 15 A-frame signs, and they're double-sided, so there are about 30 posters. They're kind of all-around Cochrane.”

Nicolle knew they were a hit when Cochranites started to discover the signs. “I've noticed a lot of stuff on social media popping up about people saying how the sign made their day or, you know, walked past and just needed some cheering up and that's exactly what it did. There wasn't a lot of publicity out there as to who was making the signs or how they got out there, we wanted to just kind of surprise people.”

“I know it was really an exciting project for the students and the teachers to be part of. It just goes to show how positive people are in the community because these kids are showing and mirroring our behaviors. For them to have all these amazing messages of kindness and happiness for Christmas, they're seeing that in their parents and their teachers so it's just amazing to see.”

McKinnon Draper explains how they designed their sign  “It says choose happiness and it has a few stars and a bunch of dots around it. I made it with my friend Chase.”

Have you discovered any Signs Of Joy around Cochrane? Tell us where you found them and send us a photo here.