About
Mission
Our mission is to provide youth with fun service opportunities to nurture kindness, empathy, compassion, social responsibility and a giving spirit.
Our Story
The Kindness Connection started as a vision of a small group of parents who wanted to find meaningful age-appropriate volunteer projects to do with their children. Armed with the belief that young children have as much to give and learn from community service as older children, The Kindness Connection was born. Since 2006, The Kindness Connection has reached over 50,000 youth volunteers through 75 schools and organizations, and delivered over 60,000 handmade projects to 40 nonprofits around the world.
Our Impact
How do we create a kinder world? By teaching kids about empathy and giving back. At The Kindness Connection® (TKC), an innovative 501(c)(3) nonprofit, we believe that positive volunteer experiences early in life have the power to inspire individuals to make the practice of giving their time and resources to charitable and civic causes an intrinsic part of their lives. TKC works to inspire youth to make the practice of giving a lifelong goal. Since our founding, TKC has hosted community events drawing hundreds of volunteers, worked with corporations to coordinate volunteer experiences, facilitated Kindness Days at schools in the Chicagoland area, opened a space where families, groups and classrooms could volunteer, and provided meaningful hands-on service opportunities to children when there were few available. TKC continues to fill this gap by providing Kits of Kindness, tangible service experiences for children delivered to their home, classroom, after school groups, and more. We believe that by creating meaningful gifts for those who will benefit from a kind act, children can develop a foundation for a life filled with compassion and giving.
TKC Staff & board
Staff
Shannon Valko – COO
Lisa Rosenberg – Director of Operations
Board
Nancy Dellamore – Secretary
Liz Erlich – Director of Finance
Isabelle Green – President-elect
Stephanie Linn – Director at Large
Mary Roth – Interim President
Stefanie Ryan – Director at Large
Mark Wierzbinski – Director at Large
Visit us at Northbrook Court | Learn more about our mobile options for schools and larger groups | Donate