Youth have incredible potential—not just as future leaders, but as capable changemakers right now. On 1/24/25, we took our first group of teens to a Family & Friends CPR training class. This experience gave them the tools and confidence to respond in emergencies. Though we pray they never need these skills, we're so proud to know they can now respond in an emergency to help save a life. Our youth volunteers just leveled up by learning Adult CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation)! 🙌 This experience empowers them to be heroes in their communities while gaining skills that will last a lifetime. Skills learned were CPR,The HEIMLICH MANUEVER, AED TRAINING & STOP THE BLEED. 

Exciting news! KIDS CARE launched a new program called S.H.I.N.E.

Developed and led by KIDS CARE co-founder Amie Burke, this in-school group program aims to elevate and engage students into community service.

This 6 - 8 week program leads students to discover their own unique gifts/talents and how to combine them in a group effort to Create Kindness for their community.

Through our partnership with CIS at Marietta/Cobb County Schools, we have begun our first in-school program with some awesome students at McEachern High School. THANKS CIS & MCEACHERN!

Watch our social media for updates about how these young students S.H.I.N.E Bright & Create Kindness together.  Program began 1/31/2025.

https://kids-care2018.org/s-h-i-n-e

Defining their skills, holding gratitude for their own blessings, and recognizing who/what could use a touch of Kindness leads our youth to their Community Service Ideas.

These kids have been with us for a few years, and their empathy and compassion always moves me.  Looking forward to putting their thoughtful ideas into action. 

Thanks to Cobb County Police Department Precinct 5 for providing the space for our youth met up on a cold rainy day.  Thank you for your continued support & service to our community.

Thanks to Cobb County Fire & Emergency Services Fire Dept #13 for the truck tour! That air tank sure is heavy!  Grateful for your strength & bravery everyday

Amazing meet-up with McEachern High Students to discover their #1 community service idea.  STOP GUN VIOLENCE.  Though they generated many compassionate ideas, the service project with the most votes was to STOP GUN VIOLENCE.

Today we covered gratitude, micro-gratitude (Micro G's), positive power, sympathy, empathy, compassion, and community service.  Big topics. They were focused, engaged, and participating. 

Great job to Mrs. Alicia's Communities In Schools of Georgia in Marietta/Cobb County, Inc. students! Thanks McEachern High School for joining together with KIDS CARE to let these students shine their light on our community. 

KIDS CARE volunteers joined the Marietta Tree Keepers to Plant Trees at Polk Park in Marietta! Our youth worked hard for 2 hours digging, planting, moving mulch & raking. So impressed with these kids/parents work ethics. Kids are STRONG & so CAPABLE! Thanks Awesome Volunteers for your hard work & community service! 

Our youth have been working from home and together to create 40 "no-sew" blankets that will be donated to female first responders attending a mental health retreat in May.

💙 Special Thanks to our KC volunteers for your continued Compassion & Time.

❤️ Big friendly Thank You to the Marietta Fire Department #1 for securing a space for us to #createkindness . 

🌟 Please contact us if you can donate NEW antipill microfleece to keep us rolling on this mission. 😊

Assisting the Cobb County Police Department with role playing volunteers, we attended and acted in their Active Shooter Training drills for several days.  Super proud of the volunteers who showed up to help our first responders train for real life scenarios.

#stopgunviolence.

Ask the questions. Listen to the answers. Create space for hard conversations. Teens need to be heard.

So proud of these brave students for opening up about their personal experiences with gun violence. 

7 out of 12 of these students know someone who has been killed by gun violence.  

These life experiences have led them to choose hosting a community awareness event in hopes of helping prevent gun violence.

Special thanks to Commissioner Monique Sheffield, Cobb County Government Office of Sustainability, and Keep Cobb Beautiful for a great opportunity to serve together earlier this month.

Together, we were able to help beautify two local senior citizens' outdoor residences.  Our volunteers assisted in raking, weeding, planting plants, mulching, and overall general garden maintenance.

A perfect blend of community service, senior love, and environmental stewardship.

What a lovely gesture by Commissioner Sheffield, Cobb County Office of Sustainability, and our dear friends at Keep Cobb Beautiful.  

Shout out to the awesome one and only - Charlie, who took time to educate our youth on all things outdoors! Thanks Charlie!

Thank you to the Tapp Middle School AVID, CIS at Marietta/Cobb County Schools, and Sources of Strength students who made 40 Kindness Cards this month. 

Super proud of your kind words! Cards were created and delivered to Lindley Middle School teachers to support mental health & in appreciation and awareness of the student who took her own life in January of this year. 

Cards of gratitude and support were also created for Cobb County Fire & Emergency Services Firefighters in Powder Springs & L.A. Firefighters to show thanks to these everyday heroes. 

To date, our Kindness Card Program has delivered 3,859 Kindness Cards.

Thank you to the Tapp Middle School AVID, CIS at Marietta/Cobb County Schools, and Sources of Strength students who made 40 Kindness Cards this month. 

Super proud of your kind words! Cards were created and delivered to Lindley Middle School teachers to support mental health & in appreciation and awareness of the student who took her own life in January of this year. 

Cards of gratitude and support were also created for Cobb County Fire & Emergency Services Firefighters in Powder Springs & L.A. Firefighters to show thanks to these everyday heroes. 

To date, our Kindness Card Program has delivered 3,859 Kindness Cards.

#putthegunsdown  #disarmhate

Very proud of the McEachern High School students KIDS CARE has been working with the past few months.  Honored to listen to and help elevate their voices.  Speak up about gun violence.  #endgunviolence

Looking forward to advising the students on their new mission to develop a social media campaign to raise awareness about #gunviolence.

Together with Mrs. Smith (Communities In Schools of Georgia in Marietta/Cobb County, Inc.), we will continue to listen to and support these incredibly intelligent & brave students. 

Thankful for the opportunity to care for and inspire this group of teens to believe in the importance of their presence. To reflect to them the blessings and natural talents/gifts that they have to offer our community.

Partnering with Communities In Schools of Georgia in Marietta/Cobb County, Inc., KIDS CARE launched our S.H.I.N.E. program this past Jan. at McEachern High School.

Over the course of several meetups, I was able to guide them into finding their community passions and how they can give back to society. To inspire them to take action with their natural talents, passions, and gifts. And we discussed the many benefits that come from giving.

I am so proud of these students.  They faced hard questions and stood in their truths. They spoke honestly and respectfully about the realities they live in.

PLEASE SPEAK TO THE TEENS IN YOUR LIFE ABOUT ALL THE HARD TOPICS. They are ready for the conversations and need to be able to express themselves.  They are our future. 

-Amie Burke; KIDS CARE CEO & Co-Founder

Thank you to our awesome youth volunteers who joined together to decorate 15 donation collection boxes!  This is the start to our annual "Backing the Need" Backpack & School Supply Drive!

Special thanks to The Artful Rabbit for hosting our youth group in their precious downtown Kennesaw art studio and bookstore. 

KC youth volunteers created 23 handmade steppingstones to donate to SafePath Children's Advocacy Center, Inc. These steppingstones will be placed in the tranquility garden to offer comfort, smiles, hope, and support.

Loved watching everyones design creativity & the quick learning that happened when mixing cement!! So fun!

If anyone is interested in donating wind chimes, garden flags, or other calming garden attributes to SafePaths tranquility garden, please reach out to KIDS CARE. Thank you!

Cleaned up SafePath Children's Advocacy Center garden area on 6/24/25. The temps were hot & the smiles were big.  Such a generous and hard-working group of #volunteers representing KIDS CARE. Thank you to our hard working Mamas & teens who got it done  in the heat! (And one gentleman.) So proud of everyone!

Special thanks to CS Construction Specialties from Kennesaw for joining us. Thank you for helping to create kindness for this amazing center that helps protect and care for children in our community.

A few hours well spent serving our community. Our Volunteers shined with compassion, strength, dedication, teamwork, gratitude, and Love. What a beautiful day together. 

40 business partners & over 100 volunteers all joined together on July 19, 2025, for KIDS CARE's 5th annual "Backing the Need" Backpack & School Supply Drive.

1,121 Backpacks with school supplies were collected & delivered to Cobb County students in need of assistance.  We are deeply grateful and honored to unite so many compassionate humans together on the same mission: get essential school supplies to local students in need. We did it community!  We did it.

Thank you to our incredibly generous donors, partners, and our very hard-working volunteers for your outstanding community service.  We are deeply appreciative to you all!

Thank you to our long-time supporters, friends & sponsors, The Champion Firm, Personal Injury Attorneys, P.C. for capturing the magic of this incredible day and donating a large number of supplies!  We love the video you created!  Thank you, thank you!

202 more backpacks were packed today - solely because of the Lathrop Family stepping forward in this big way.  They leave no friends behind and knew we needed a big push across the finish line.

Our deep gratitude for their month long support of our family, KIDS CARE, and the "Backing the Need" Backpack and School Supply Drive.

They have decorated boxes, made THE Banner, volunteered for hours and hours of service,  packed hundreds of backpacks,  and all the little things in between.  It would not be the same without their extra efforts.

Bravo Lathrop Family - Bravo! Thank you for pulling and pushing us across the finish line.  We are deeply grateful.

KIDS CARE had fun engaging youth in making Kindness Cards for first responders.  All cards were taken by the maker and given to a first responder on site.  35 cards given.  Loved sharing our story with families and encouraging them to volunteer together for our community.

Playing "Turtle Toss" with Seniors was good for the Soul. Connecting, relaxing, playing, and being with community was great for our mental health and our heart health, plus the SMILES it brought the seniors!

Equally important was raising funds to fight Alzheimer's disease. Grateful to support our dear friends @sterlingestateswestcobb in their annual fundraising efforts. Thanks for having us. Donation link at our website under 'support others'. 

Dispatching Kindness was a wonderful experience last week. We loved engaging our community and watching them deliver kindness to the awesome E911 dispatchers at Cobb County 911!

Thank you to Cobb County E911 for your nonstop commitment to excellence and service to our county. We sure appreciate you all!

Special thanks to our generous community partners for donating & delivering the following Kindness to E911 dispatchers during Public Safety Appreciation Week:

Building Strong Horizons, Inc. (snacks, drinks, gifts)

Mac Design Group (new socks)

Geronimo's & McWhorter Family (baked goods)

The Champion Firm, Personal Injury Attorneys, P.C. (gift cards, gifts & donuts)

Tiptop donuts (1 dozen donuts)

Hooters in Kennesaw (100 wings)

MilFam Soapworks (soaps, lotions, chapsticks & body scrubs)

Target 1106 (snacks & goodies)

Target 1165 (snacks & goodies)

KIDS CARE (4 tickets to ATL Botanical Garden, 2 no-sew blankets, 10 Kindness Cards)

Special thanks to Rebecca for saving her cans and donating them to our "Cans for a Cause" Program . 

Collected cans are recycled for money, which is donated by KIDS CARE to Cobb County Fire Department's "Give Burns the Boot" Program. Cobb County Fire & Emergency Services

You CAN easily participate by simply collecting your cans and letting us know when your ready for us to pick them up! We'll do the rest!

https://kids-care2018.org/recycle-cans-for-a-cause

"Kindness on Tap" 11/12/25.

Thank you Glover Park Brewery for donating to & hosting KIDS CARE fundraiser. We appreciate you all!  Big gratitude to our sponsors, volunteers, friends & supportive community members. Thank you for showing up to donate and spend time with us! (Check out the 30 sec mark for the pie face fun & laughs!)

THANK YOU to our volunteers and the following businesses who helped us raise $1,040 for KIDS CARE:

*Same Difference

*Bubble Vision Atlanta

*Building Strong Horizons, Inc.

*Connected Living Pros

*The Artful Rabbit

*Explore Wildwood

*Mac Design Group

*Office of the District Attorney - Cobb Judicial Circuit - Angela & Rose

*LGE Community Credit Union

*Dawn Martin

*The Center for Family Resources

*Lindsey Dugan

Thank you everyone for a great evening.

Thank you, KIDS CARE friends for being on our first ever 5K team -we appreciate you!  Congratulations to KC volunteer Hailey for winning 2nd place in her age group, great job!

On 11/15 we joined together to support Cobb County First Responders by participating in the Cobb County Public Safety Foundation 5K race.

Check out all the amazing work the Cobb County Public Safety Foundation does to support our local heroes. www.ccpsf.org  Join with us next year, we'd love to have you on our team!

Thank you KIDS CARE Volunteers for your service and food donations! We're so proud and thankful to this crew for stepping up to serve together at @thecfr Choice Food Pantry on 11/25.

In addition to stocking shelves,  dating cans and moving boxes, we donated 158.2 pounds of food to The Center for Family Resources.

Jaida and I had to abruptly leave town for a family emergency and we'd like to extend our sincere gratitude to Kandice & Hailey Nadeau for stepping in to lead our volunteer team in our absence. Thank you & well done!

Thanks to The Center for Family Resources for hosting our youth and family volunteer group & all you do for our community.