Contact us at Friends 4 Kindness: (905) 518-3457 or info@friends4kindness.com
Advocating Inclusion and Acceptance Through Kindness
SPREADING KINDNESS TO INDIVIDUALS WHO FEEL LIKE THEY DON'T MATTER! EVERYONE SHOULD FEEL INCLUDED, ACCEPTED AND LOVED!
Message from our Founder Nicole Callander
**Message from our Founder Nicole Callander**
Hello Friends!
We hope everyone is having a safe summer! Yesterday, our Board of Directors held our Annual General Meeting. It's definitely been an unprecedented year for all of us. It broke our heart not to celebrate at our 6 planned Unbirthday Parties across Ontario. Fingers Crossed, we will be able to celebrate in 2021- but we will wait and see how things are progressing in the New year. Although, we loved our online celebration and are hoping to plan something again in the winter months!
When I first founded Friends 4 Kindness, it was to cheer up my own daughter who felt alone and left out of the celebrations in her Grade 12 year. I asked for birthday cards to help her feel loved when all the milestones were happening and she received 6000 cards from around the world. I can't begin to describe the difference those birthday cards made. Kaitlin would cry all the time because she was so lonely and felt so unloved. When she began receiving the cards her self esteem changed and she became confident, happy, motivated to cheer others up- the list goes on with all the positive changes that occurred.
At the time of our first Unbirthday Party celebration- I wanted other children who struggle with friendships and were often alone to feel the same love and confidence that my daughter felt when she received her cards. So we started a birthday card program. We formed a team of card writers from all over North America who mail cards to the Unbirthday kids during their birthday month. That way, the kids who are often alone and struggle with friendships feel loved on their birthday!
Now with COVID-19, many kids have not had social interactions with other children since schools closed in March. Many have been isolated with only their families. Recieving Cards will brighten up many children’s lives.
As of now, we have 153 kids signed up to receive cards! Our Birthday Card Program is the only program we have operating at the moment due to Covid19. Although, we want to make our Program more manageable and better organized. Here is what we need from you:
1. Parents whose children are ALREADY signed up to receive cards (Or parents who are interested in signing their children up to receive cards) Can you please email our Card Director, Lori at cards@friends4kindness.com by AUGUST 31, 2020. Can you let her know:
(a) Your Child's Full Name
(b).Your Child's Mailing Address
(c) Your Child's Birthdate
(d) Parent/ Guardian's name
(e) Your email address (THIS IS IMPORTANT). Moving forward we will email you once a year to confirm you will still want your child signed up for the program and to confirm your address has not changed!
*. THERE IS NO AGE LIMIT to the card receivers! We know their are many adults with Special needs or who are alone who will benefit from receiving birthday cards
* Once we Recieve your email, we will send you a waiver to sign with rules, a consent portion and how our program runs.
If we haven't heard from you by August 31, 2020, we will be mailing letters to all children who are signed up asking for this information or else they will be removed from the program!
CARD WRITERS:
If your interested in becoming a regular monthly card writer (We send 3 names a month, or more if you request more than 3) Feel free to message Lori, our Card Director at cards@friends4Kindness.com and she will send you the information on what our Card writer commitments entail!
American friends: We would like to start an American Card writing Chapter for our friends in the USA. We are hoping to create a Card writing team in the US who will send cards to Children in the USA. We will post more about this in October!!! Stay Tuned!
I am so grateful to all our Sponsors, Donors, card writers, performers and supporters throughout 2020. We wouldn't exist without your kindness and generosity. Thank you for helping us celebrate our friends! We are always accepting donations (we have no paid employees, we are entirely volunteer run so all donations go directly into our programs and expenses!). We accept donations at donations@friends4kindness.com
To our friends we celebrate- We miss you so much and hope to see your smiling faces in 2021! Please stay safe and healthy and continue to smile! I pray we will all be together again soon!
If you ever have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me at ncallander@friends4kindness.com
Sincerely,
Nicole Callander
Founder, Friends 4 Kindness
