Kans for Kids around UIndy
Junior psychology and communication major Kathlene Denhard is continuing and expanding Kans for Kids, an organization she started last year that focuses on collecting items such as canned goods and nonperishables for families dealing with poverty.
Denhard said Kans for Kids began last December, while she was working as a site director with a youth enrichment program for the YMCA.
“I started noticing in December they [the elementary students] were coming in with cardigans on—these little kids were coming in with no coats—and I’d ask them, ‘Where is your coat?’ [and they would say] ‘Well, this is my coat.’ That’s not all right,” she said.
After that, Denhard noticed a parent liaison that worked at Indianapolis Public School 114 was quickly trying to get money together for food baskets. She found out that the person who wrote grants for the school had backed out, and they had lost some of their funding. Denhard then asked what the school needed. She found out that the school needed 40 hams, canned goods, nonperishables, cleaning supplies and toilet paper, among other supplies. These items would be included in a basket that would be sent home with the students for winter break.
“The ham is for the Christmas dinner, but everything else goes for the two weeks they will not be in school,” Denhard said. “On the weekends, there are some 100 families that the school sends bags of food home for the weekend so they know they’ll eat, because of lot of families come back and say ‘Well, I didn’t eat this weekend.”
According to Denhard, the goal last year was to collect enough food for 40 baskets. This year, however, Denhard is working to collect enoughfor 50 baskets, which she said is possible due to the help of Associate Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students Kory Vitangeli and Residence Life.
“With everything that they’ve given me, I’ve been able to up the [total number of] baskets to 50 this year instead of 40, which means that 10 more families that really need it will get it,” Denhard said.
According to Vitangeli, toward the beginning of the semester, she and the residence directors met with Denhard, at which time Denhard explained her project.
“We all agreed that it was a great way to get residence hall students involved with helping the local community,” Vitangeli said. “We always try to coordinate one or more service projects per year out of the residence halls, and this was a great way to support one of the residents and have a coordinated effort across all of the halls.”
According to Vitangeli, the staff of the residence halls and campus apartments have coordinated programs centered around raising money and collecting nonperishable food.
“Some residence halls, like Crowe Hall, made gifts that they have been selling in Schwitzer [Student Center] to raise money. Other halls have done programs, such as Cory Bretz and Cravens, that did holiday caroling in the halls, and others like Warren did an interactive program where students could pie an RA to help raise money,” Vitangeli said. “Each of the areas has done something creative to collect both food and money. It has been wonderful to see all that has been happening.”
According to Denhard, there is a different qualification to receive a basket this year than there was last year.
“Last year, there were a lot of ungrateful parents that were just expecting me to give it [the basket] to them….It was just a handout to them,” Denhard said. “If I’m going to go through all this trouble—and everybody else is going to go through this trouble—we’re going to make it worth somebody’s while.”
Denhard said that if a parent wanting to receive a basket does not have a job or a General Educational Development diploma, that parent has to sign up with a career counselor. A person without a GED diploma will then be able to take a free GED diploma preparation class and get on track to get their GED diploma.
Some items that are being collected for Kans for Kids include canned goods, nonperishable boxed items, such as cake mix and Bisquick, cleaning supplies, toilet paper, dish soap and sponges, according to Denhard. Denhard also said they are collecting change to buy coats, scarves and gloves.
According to Vitangeli, students can contact their RA or RD for specific ways to donate. Others wishing to donate can contact Denhard at denhardk@uindy.edu.
