Bringing Holiday Cheer to ALL Kidkind

December 5, 2013December 6, 2013 Leigh Ann ErricoLeave a comment

“As parents, we all want our children to grow up to be responsible citizens and good people. We want them to learn to feel, think and act with respect for themselves and for other people. We want them to pursue their own well being, while also being considerate of the needs and feelings of others. We want them, in short, to develop strong character.” Source: U.S. Department of Education pamphlet, “Helping Your Child Become a Responsible Citizen”

This week, the kidkind foundation held its inaugural charitable fundraising event, and oh what an event it was, with great energy and spirit shared by all! What a way to get the holidays warmed up and rocking.

All attendees/donors – over 70 people – “wore their capes” and brought homemade cookies and other food and specialty good donations for our military troops. Our troops are in need of so much support and supplies, and we wanted to show them our appreciation for what they do for us every day. We are preparing a GIANT shipment to send off to Afghanistan today! The children who attended our event took the time to write heartwarming letters and to draw pictures showing their gratitude to the soldiers who fight for our freedom.

We raised thousands of dollars that we will use to publish our work–in-progress children’s picture book on character and kindness. The master plan is to donate the book to underprivileged kids across the country to help shape behavior and mindsets from an early age (who doesn’t remember an impactful book from childhood?!). We’d love to hear other ideas from you on the best way to put the funds to good use.

At the event, our fun Wear the Cape clothes and gear were for sale, including several new products like the cape to the left. The merchandise was certainly flying off the shelves, as they say.

It was beyond encouraging to see people rallying around the mission to build good character and kindness in children by showing them how to be everyday heroes. Folks seem to be loving Wear the Cape’s Hero Tags, fastened on all merchandise, with teachable moments that spark conversations about building good character. When I spoke to our guests about what we are trying to achieve with kidkind, and what seems to be eroding in our society that we want to bring back stronger than ever, there was not a dry eye in the room (including mine!). Seeing that people share our hopes for society was definitely motivation to “keep on truckin’” to realize the vision.

Thanks to all of our treasured kidkind supporters, located in good ole’ NJ, who took the time to support us on Tuesday night. Your enthusiasm and zest for this mission is what keeps us focused on moving the ball down the field and encouraged for what the future holds for our cause.

Remember: Kindness is free. So go forward and spread some kind during this magical time of year.

Free Wear the Cape Lesson Plan! Pass it on

November 20, 2013November 25, 2013 Leigh Ann ErricoLeave a comment

Wear the Cape is excited to unveil (drumroll, please…) a free, introductory lesson on character that can be utilized by educators, scout leaders, religious teachers and more. The lesson and all supporting materials are available to download for free in our newly-added “Resources” section of Wear the Cape’s website and by clicking here.

In line with Wear the Cape’s mission, the lesson focuses on kindness and character-development strategies. Students are challenged to think through the characteristics of a hero and to identify how these qualities can be applied in their everyday lives, particularly through interactions with peers. From the Resources page:

For kids across the country, school is one of the first and most impactful venues for socialization, learning and personal development. But we trust that any teacher can tell you, lessons learned at home are equally as important.

Since teaching emotional intelligence and encouraging kids to embody good character is what Wear the Cape is all about, we are excited to offer a free lesson for educators, scout leaders and religious teachers that also involves parents. It is our hope that this guided, interactive discussion will extend conversations on good character and kindness to family dinner tables far and wide.

We invite you to download the lesson and supporting materials below. And please let us know how it goes! We would love to hear highlights of what kids say and do throughout the experience, as well as how the content impacts your classroom or group overall.

We would greatly appreciate you sharing this with your children’s teachers, as well as family, friends and leaders at your places of worship. We hope that it’s a fun, thought-provoking tool that will facilitate important discussions in communities across the country. Let’s help kids gain confidence in choosing good character to improve childhoods, schools and the future of society. Thanks for doing your part!

Introducing…BETTER THAN THAT™

September 19, 2013 Leigh Ann Errico1 Comment

Twenty-five years ago Nike unveiled its still iconic slogan “Just Do It”. It’s a phrase that has – for decades – been embraced for inspiration by athletes, entrepreneurs struggling to get a business off the ground, cancer patients battling through chemo, and people trying to muster up the courage to ask the person of his/her dreams out on a date. It means stop procrastinating and start doing – no excuses. There were so many times when I heard that slogan in my head when I needed to find the true grit to push through something scary or painful, to make a major life change with no safety net. I trust most of you can relate…right?

Wear the Cape is excited to announce our tagline: Better Than That™.

From the skate park to the locker room, you’re “better than that” means do what’s right, not what’s easy. It says, “Rise above the level of negative influences.” And it’s a phrase that’s meant to inspire others to reach their greatest potential (Wear the Cape is harnessing it as a reminder to self, too – check out the bottom left hemline of our tees!).

Better Than That™ is about knowing what you’re worth. The phrase captures what Wear the Cape is all about to me– emboldening good character and kindness. Wear the Cape adopted Better Than That™ as a way to tell our loved ones that we believe in who they are and to tell the world, “I know my value, and I’m striving for my behavior to reflect that.”

I fell in love with this phrase when I thought about its broad reach and deep meaning. I was so in love with Better Than That™, I went out and found myself a lawyer to trademark the phrase for Wear the Cape. Trademarks – uggh….what an education that was! It was cool to work on the trademarking though, and I was amazed to hear my kids (who are still all under six years old) talking about our trademarking journey and which “marks” are and are not available. I guess we are never too old or too young to learn new things!

So, what did we do with our beloved trademark of Better Than That ™? As I mentioned above, our tees have BETTER THAN THAT™ printed upside-down along the bottom left hem. This unique placement is so the person wearing the shirt can read the phrase as a reminder to live up to his or her worth (i.e., you are better than being provoked by negative peer pressure, and even if/when you make mistakes, you’re better than your behavior…and your subsequent actions should show that).

Cyber bullying someone via social media? Come on, you’re BETTER THAN THAT.
Not doing your homework? You’re BETTER THAN THAT.
Excluding someone from a game at recess or at lunch? You’re BETTER THAN THAT.
Lying to your parents about your plans for the night? You’re BETTER THAN THAT.

One of my all-time favorite movies is Rocky Balboa. In one of the scenes, Rocky says to his son:

Now, if you know what you’re worth, then go out and get what you’re worth…not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain’t you. You’re better than that!

Wear the Cape, be Better Than That ™.