A charitable & foundational partnerships to ensure that portions of proceeds and/or profits are channeled to organizations dedicated to building better lives for underprivileged kids.
“The holidays are the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall and the genial flame of charity in the heart.“
How fitting to evoke warmth and passion by relating hospitality and charity to fire! A year-round flame drives us at kidkind to help young people understand the immeasurable value of good character and kindness. To all the big-hearted people who have embraced our cause, supporting us over the past year: We are so grateful.
The kidkind foundation worked very hard this year, and we are so proud of the tracks that we made! In 2014, we utilized multiple channels to reach families with life-enriching educational materials, experiences and inspiration:
Cape Code Project and Dr. Brown: Wear the Cape & the kidkind foundation enlisted character education expert Philip Brown, PhD to develop resources that were provided to parents, educators and mentors for free to teach children virtues and show them how to handle challenges like bullying. As part of this effort, Dr. Brown authored the Cape Code Project, a three-part series that offers guidance on creating a family code of conduct to raise Cape Kids who make good choices and choose kindness as their way to interact with the world. Helping countless families, the invaluable information from Dr. Brown was distributed far and wide via blogs, press releases and the media.
5K Race for Kidkind: In May, we held our first 5K Fundraiser, complete with a Kids’ 100-Yard Dash and Family Festival. Well over 100+ runners participated, and 50 everyday heroes came out to volunteer. Thanks to our sponsors and participants, we raised over $10,000 to support kidkind’s mission.
Hero Scholarship: The kidkind foundation created a scholarship for college-bound seniors who exemplify what it means to be an everyday hero by restoring kindness and civility in society. Frank Piacenti of West Morris Mendham High School was the first winner of a $2,500 scholarship!
Cape Kids: Throughout the year, the kidkind foundation recognized many Cape Kids. To create positive role models and deliver inspiration for new acts of kindness from others, we shared their amazing stories on our website.
Verizon FiOS1 News: “Push Pause”, a television program from Verizon FiOS1 News, featured Wear the Cape and the kidkind foundation with a special focus on our Junior Board. In addition to profiling Wear the Cape and the kidkind foundation, the news outlet broadcasted a discussion among Wear the Cape’s young leaders about the challenges and the opportunities surrounding bullying. We hope viewers gained as much insight from tuning in as we did! [WATCH]
Holiday Fundraiser: We held a charitable event to show our youth the importance of philanthropy and to give back to the community. The fundraiser brought $7,000 for kidkind to continue its mission in 2015! In addition, thousands of dollars in supplies were collected for our troops and hundreds of Lego and Frozen toys were gathered to be donated to orphans at the NJ Children’s Shelter in Trenton, NJ.
I’d like to take this opportunity to express my deep appreciation for the many friends and businesses who are helping Wear the Cape and the kidkind foundation continue its momentum behind promoting kindness and good character in children. Thank you so much for the generosity of your time and your donations. Seeing others join the movement and lend their support to this important cause is nothing short of beautiful.
COMING IN 2015 after much demand: a school assembly!
All the best to you and yours in kindness,
Leigh Ann
Holiday cheer in full effect: Tonight marked Wear the Cape’s second annual kidkind foundation holiday extravaganza! A night focused on philanthropy, the event took place on none other than #GivingTuesday. Giving Tuesday, for those who may not be aware, is a global day that is dedicated to giving back; it’s a chance to unite and celebrate generosity.
As founder of Wear the Cape and the kidkind foundation, I opened up my home in Warren, NJ for the sake of promoting among our children that it is “Cool to Be Kind”. Together, with 80 fine women as guests, about 20 Cape Kids in action, and many vendors who donated their time and their specialties, the night was a resounding success, raising $7K for kidkind to use in 2015 to continue its mission. In addition, the fundraiser collected thousands of dollars in supplies for our troops – the ultimate heroes who fight for our freedom – and gathered hundreds of beautifully-wrapped Lego and Frozen toys to be donated to orphans at the NJ Children’s Shelter in Trenton, NJ.
Cape Kids, who have each contributed to society in their own unique ways, were also celebrated. They exemplify what we’ve learned from Wear the Cape’s wise guru Dr. Philip Brown, PhD – that kids who learn and practice the act of volunteering for their community reap all kinds of benefits, including building stellar character. Check out our recent list, “Top 10 Reasons to Encourage Your Kids to Volunteer,” for more.
To make the night even more interesting, there was a turbo-charged Holiday Cookie Exchange so that all the ladies could arrive with one type of cookie and depart with their choices from 80 different kinds. Friendly competition got fiercely fun as attendees dueled for the coveted honors of best looking and most delicious cookies in the house!
Local organizations popped in to make holiday shopping a little less stressful for all. The big-hearted vendors “wore the cape” in their own right – Bayhead Boutique, Petite Lily, Christina’s Dresses, and MySuperFoods – donating a percent of proceeds to the kidkind foundation. And, of course, Wear the Cape gear and clothes – every item complete with a Hero Tag that coaches kids on what to do when challenging life scenarios arise – were for sale and flying off the shelves (shop for Wear the Cape goodies for yourself and your loved ones HERE).
Quoting Plato in my remarks for the night, I encouraged:
“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”
That about sums up the night – Wearing the Cape in action! Because, as my mom always used to say, kindness is free.
Top 10 Reasons to Encourage Your Kids to Volunteer
Wear the Cape’s resident expert on character education sheds light on the value of urging children to become involved in community service activities
Wear the Cape, a brand that gives back and aims to restore the power of kindness and good character with cool, inspirational products and its non-profit the kidkind foundation, today released the “Top 10 Reasons to Encourage Your Kids to Volunteer.” Authored by the organization’s resident expert on character education, Philip Brown, PhD, the Top 10 List shares with parents research-based reasons to urge their children to make time to serve others.
“Back-to-school season ushers in a renewed focus on everything from academics to athletics, but many parents are challenged to find positive ways for their kids to spend time when they’re not on campus,” commented Dr. Brown, who is a senior consultant at the National School Climate Center. “While over-programming your child’s schedule isn’t a healthy option—kids of all ages need free time to play—you should help with structuring some of his or her time to optimize maturation.”
Dr. Brown explained, “As young people get older, they need to stretch their abilities, including their moral sensibilities. Engagement with other kids and adults in meaningful service activities can support healthy development in a variety of ways, providing opportunities for both growth and positive fulfillment.”
TOP 10 REASONS TO ENCOURAGE YOUR KIDS TO VOLUNTEER
#1: Volunteering helps foster empathy.
Empathy is the most critical disposition for responding to the needs of others. We need to be able to imagine what other people may be going through or feeling. Volunteering helps engage our natural empathic sense, but you have to make sure that there are opportunities to talk about the purpose and experience of any volunteer activity if the recipients aren’t visible in the process (making sandwiches for the homeless isn’t the same as helping to deliver the sandwiches to homeless people).
#2: Volunteering helps develop a sense of self-efficacy.
Children may understand that other people need help or that there are projects that could make a community more habitable or productive, but feel helpless or unclear that an individual can do anything about it in response. Volunteering can provide experiences that affirm a young person’s sense that they can make a difference through their own effort and skills. These experiences can empower young people to apply themselves in other contexts, including school and other organized activities, such as faith-based youth groups or scouting.
#3: Volunteers gain experience working with other people.
Social skills are best learned in social situations. When people come together to engage in a meaningful task, issues of communication, power, collaboration and trust rise to the surface in a supportive context. It’s easier, although still a challenge, to learn to navigate these waters with others who may be more skillful and be in a position to offer supportive feedback. It’s a good way for parents and children to see each other in a different light, as well, and learn together.
#4: Volunteering develops new skills.
In addition to social skills, practical experiences of organizing tasks and using physical and mental capabilities to get jobs done is fundamental to successful work of any kind. In school, these skills are often fragmented or unrelated to real-world applications. Service activities offer the chance to apply and test our abilities, as well as learn from other kids or adults in a way that engages kids’ natural drive for competence.
# 5: Volunteering provides the opportunity to explore new interests and develop new passions.
There is nothing more exhilarating than discovering a new field of interest that sparks a real passion for learning and doing. One of the wonderful things about being our species is our inquisitiveness and motivation to investigate and find meaning in discovery. Service activities have the potential to expose us to these opportunities and see how other people live their passions.
#6: Volunteers learn a lot.
In the process of joining with others in service, volunteers learn about their community and the larger world. It takes us out of our own sphere of self-interest and self-absorption and opens us to issues and solutions, as well as other people’s needs.
#7: Volunteers actually make a difference in other people’s lives.
Think about how much more impoverished our communities would be if all of the volunteer services disappeared. This is a lesson that children can be taught early and take with them into adulthood. For example, volunteers are critical in:
Helping families (daycare and eldercare)
Improving schools (tutoring, literacy)
Supporting youth (mentoring and after-school programs)
Beautifying the community (beach and park cleanups)
#8:Volunteering encourages civic responsibility.
Community service and volunteerism are a way to teach the importance of investing in our community and the people who live in it. We want our kids to not only be successful in their work and personal lives, but to learn what it means to be a citizen in our republic. The American values of democratic decision-making, social justice and equal opportunity require active participation for us to have a successfully functioning country.
#9: Volunteering offers you a chance to give back.
It’s important for children to see that there are small and large opportunities to support community resources that your family uses or that benefit people they care about. Whether it’s offering to help man a booth to support improvements in a park you use, or joining a fundraising walk to support medical research for a disease that afflicts a family member or friend, children and adults alike can feel empowered through participation.
#10: Volunteering is good for you.
While this is the last reason for volunteering on this list, and may not be the most important, it is good to know that research has consistently shown that acting altruistically has real benefits. Volunteering provides physical and mental rewards; it has been shown to:
Reduce stress: When you focus on someone other than yourself, it interrupts tension-producing patterns.
Make you healthier: The moods and emotions that frequently come through volunteer service like optimism, joy, and a sense of self-efficacy can contribute to strengthening the immune system.
Make you happier: Human beings are social animals. Working closely with others in a common pursuit for the benefit of our fellow creatures can fill us with a sense of purpose, and that can lead us to feelings of satisfaction and true happiness.
“Volunteering with your kids touches hearts, teaches important life lessons and engraves fond, lifelong memories of family bonding,” said Leigh Ann Errico, CEO and founder of Wear the Cape and the kidkind foundation. “Understanding and participating in activities to benefit the community is crucial to weaving one’s moral fiber.”
Errico built Wear the Cape and established the foundation in 2013 after she came up short in her search for resources on kindness and character-building that would appeal to her own four children. Other parents clearly had faced the same challenge; Wear the Cape’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/wearthecape) already has over 1,100 “Likes”, all through organic growth. The idea for the brand was sparked when Errico observed that the chance to wear a cape—the organization’s logo—motivates children to act like heroes, or “Cape Kids,” in order to live up to the symbol of honor.
In partnership with Wear the Cape and the kidkind foundation, Dr. Brown has embarked on a critical mission to help parents across the country support the development of character in their kids.
