EVANSVILLE, In. (WEHT) – One local organization is teaching kids they don’t need wealth to be philanthropists – just kindness and good intentions.
“It’s a youth philanthropy initiative, the goal being that philanthropy is not about just giving money away. The true meaning of philanthropy is about the love of human kind,” says Carol Havens of the Jim and Carol Havens Family Foundation.
The “I am a Philanthropist” initiative is a program for kids, from kindergarten to seventh grade, to inspire students to make their community and world a better place.
“So we wanted to start with the youth and start explaining to them that they too can be philanthropists through the acts of kindness, compassion, empathy, service, listening – all the attributes that every human being should have. That’s what true philanthropy is,” says Havens.
The initiative has come up with a creative way to see how a simple act of kindness can have far reaching effects.
“We have little kindness coins, and it’s been really cool to see what the kids have done with that – and being conscious about it – thinking about okay, I’m going out there with this kindness coin, I need to create an act of kindness, what am I going to do? So it’s on their mind,” says Tami Whitmore, Academic Coordinator for Dream Center.
These pay it forward style coins have a scannable QR code on the back to keep track of where they end up, all thanks to the initial good deed. Kids say they are inspired to go to the dream center and come up with ways they can have a positive impact on people in their lives.
“It makes me feel like…it’s hard to explain. It makes me feel like warm inside, it makes me happy….When you’re kind, how you treat other people, they are going to treat you how you treat them. So if you treat them bad, they’re going to treat you bad, but if you treat them good, they are gonna treat you good,” says Amelia, a student in the program.
Havens says the current three week program is a test of sorts, but has been a great success. She hopes to bring the curriculum to all ages in the future.
“We’re doing the beta test on this right now, and the goal will be we’ll start reviewing it in August/September, and create a full curriculum we can offer to elementary, middle school, high school, college, and eventually to adults,” says Havens.
She hopes the initiative will guide future leaders of the Tristate to have an attitude of kindness, compassion, and understanding.
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