Nonprofit Series | Kids In Need Foundation

Summary: We speak to Kids in Need Foundation about their work around the country and how companies get involved in delivering impact.

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Transcript:

Ben - WeHero: Welcome everybody to another. We hero interview today. We have a very special guest. We have Christine cone with the kids in need foundation. She's the senior director of development and corporate partnerships at the kids in need foundation. The kids in need foundation is an amazing organization that we've been partnering with and supporting they worked to support 6 million play us students every single year. I think Christine, is that correct?

Kristine Cohn: That is correct. That is correct.

Ben - WeHero: Awesome. Well, they're an incredible organization. Our goal today is to just learn a lot about the kids in need foundation, and Christine's just a wonderful advocate and team member. And so we're very excited to have her and Christine, if I could just get us started with a simple question for you for folks that know about the kids that need foundation what is the kids need foundation and what is the big problem that you are all waking up every day solving?

Kristine Cohn: It, it is, it is not only a great question, Ben, we, we thank you. And the whole we hero team, but it's not only a great question, but it's a great, it's a question that we we've woken up every morning for the last 26 years and asked ourselves, how are we going to address the issue of students and teachers being in the classroom without the needed resources so that teachers can teach students can learn when teachers don't have the supplies need and students don't have the supplies, they need students. First of all, start thinking about who's got that at their desk and what don't I have. Yeah. And teachers dig deeper and deeper and deeper into their pocket. You've heard me say a number of times, how many of us would take do an interview, be excited that we got the job. And then we told that one, or possibly two of your paychecks are gonna have to be used so that you get the supplies that you need to do the job that you're, that we expect you to do. Yeah. And every single day, that is what is happening in our country, across our country, in schools where teachers know that their girls and boys are coming in not having what they need and digging deep into their pocket and giving them and going out and buying the supplies so that they can give them to their students

Ben - WeHero: For teachers

Kristine Cohn: That happening for years, it's only gotten worse

Ben - WeHero: For teachers that are so often underpaid as well. It's just, it's a huge challenge.

Kristine Cohn: Well, and I think that, you know, it was interesting because, I mean, I know when we're doing this interview, it's kind of like we're 12, 13 months into this. COVID a process. And I remember it probably was 10 months ago. We started saying, no, there's never gonna be a new norm. What we are gonna have is a rolling reality.

Kristine Cohn: And I think that one of the things that I told our team members right from the beginning is that if you all thought that we're sitting here with 10 million boys and girls and children in poverty across this country and that over 29,000 students, I mean I'm sorry. 29,400 students are on the national school lunch program. You can just double that as the impact that we need to make, because when COVID hit, we not only had students at home, we had students for a while and now back in the classroom and those supplies needed to be at home and at school. And the ability for a backpack to carry him back and forth was not gonna be allowed. The ones at home needed to stay there. The ones at school needed to stay there. Take on top of that, that, that teacher in the classroom Ben was saying before, COVID saying, okay, everybody, we're gonna do a science project.

Kristine Cohn: So everybody go to the middle of the classroom, grab some scissors, grab a pencil grab a ruler, go back to your desks. And this is the project we're gonna do. And then when that project was over with the teacher said, okay, everybody take your pencil, your scissor and your ruler, take it back in the middle, put it on that desk and put, no there's not gonna be that hands touching all the different kinds of things. So I said to our team members, ladies in general, our go, our job just doubled on top of that. I said, you need to understand that we need to be so proud at the kids in need foundation. As I said, we've been way we've been and around not a way around for 24 years, we did what we're doing now for 25 years before this COVID ins own kinda unique way has done a major spotlight on the significant in, in education, in this, in this country.

Kristine Cohn: And we're not talking about just digital divide, but the point is we had people talking about these kids don't have school supplies. Yeah. They don't. And now they don't have 'em at home and they don't have 'em at school. And now we have the digital impact of this that is also adding to it. So, wow. That was a long answer to your very short question. Like always been, but the need has been here for years and years and years, and COVID put an additional spotlight on it. The kids in need has been literally in the forefront of a resting this issue for 26 years.

Ben - WeHero: Yeah. And oh, so many areas I wanna jump into 26 years. Let's go back to year one. How did this organization get started, Christine? Like who started it? And how did it become this amazing organization? That's supporting this many teachers, this many students across the country.

Kristine Cohn: Right? Exactly. And this many teachers, we are up to on an annual basis, over 205,000 teachers a year that we get supply to and well over 5 million students every year. And we need to remember, and I know that the folks that are listening to this interview know this, but all the things that we do are consumables. Everything that we give those students. Now, maybe not the backpack, maybe the backpacks gonna last for maybe one or two years, but all the rest of the items, they to these girls and boys so that they can use them, the paper and the spiral notebooks, the glue sticks, the pencils, the erasers, the crayons, the the, all those different kinds of things. Those are consumables. So when people say like, are you really having a dent and you really making a dent? Well, yeah, we are. But just cuz we give five point plus boys and girls supplies last year.

Kristine Cohn: We don't say that. Okay. Now that you got 'em don't use 'em cause you need to keep those because we need to tell people we're making a dent. No, this is, this is the thing that's gonna keep on going on. So anyhow, how did we get started? The kids in need foundation is an outgrowth of a full, a, a trade association. Oh, okay. At yeah, a trade association. It was called choppa school, home office products industry. Okay. So it was manufacturers and retailers in that school, home office products industry that had a trade association way back then. And I, I really don't remember how long the trade association was. We came around 26 years ago. So let's just say 10, 12 years before that they came around. I don't know. But what happened is many of their members started realizing that they would have product over runs or they would have a color of that just did not go well or nobody wanted or a misprint or something like that.

Kristine Cohn: And so these members said, wow, is there any way that we can not, we can do something that isn't gonna put 'em in the landfill, but it's gonna be able to give them to people who would use them. So the whole thing came up and the discussion came up about how could we get these into schools then the whole discussion came, oh my gosh, do you realize teachers are having to spend their own money? Buying supplies, oh my gosh, you, and it just kind of just snowballed snowballed. So that's how the kids in need foundation. And that was not the original name. I don't even think. I remember what that first year original name was something initiate an initiative for education, whatever. But the kids in need foundation is an outgrowth of choppa school, home office products, association. What's interesting though, is choppa ceased to exist.

Kristine Cohn: Trade shows went through some changes and choppa maybe didn't handle those changes. As other people might and they went under, okay, and here you have this foundation that is vibrant. That's doing well. That's being supported by the retailers and manufacturers across the country. And we just said, there's no reason for this not to keep going. You know, you know that the targets and the staples and the office Depot office maxes when they were separate, you know, that they support us, you know, that the Crayolas and the big and the, and the 3m and the Dixon TAROS, you know, that they and the Elmers, they support us. Why don't we just keep on going? And there wasn't even like a blip in the day, not even a blip. And yeah, I mean, you just go across it and it just keeps going. And so that's what we've been doing.

Kristine Cohn: And then we realize that there was just no way that a localized and not a localized, but a, a national organization could do everything by themselves. So the concept was, you know what, we hear that there's organizations that there's factions out there that have their own like, and they call teacher resource center. So our, our board and maybe a few staff members that they had at that time reached out to a couple of those places and say, Hey, what do you do? And they go, oh, well, you know, businesses in town and, and school supply drives and da, da, we do all that. We bring it all together and teachers can come here and basically shop for free. And they kinda went ding.

Kristine Cohn: Great idea. And now we sit here all these years later and we have 43 resource centers across the United States. Not everywhere we would want them as many as we want them. Definitely not that, but we have 43 resource centers that in their geographic footprint organize free school supplies for teachers who at least are 50% or higher in the, on the national school lunch program in their school district or title one eligible.

Ben - WeHero: That's amazing. And for folks that haven't taken a look, go to the kids that need foundation's website and they have that map and you can see what Christina's talking about. These resource centers, they are so evenly distributed across the entire us. And almost every region has a resource center now, which is just absolutely incredible. And just, and, and we hear from time to time, we get from teachers and students, just an amazing resource just pulling their name right out of that. But no, that's amazing, but

Kristine Cohn: You know what Ben, the, the thing that is so great about what we hero does is that when you work with your partners we have been so lucky that the backpacks that are built the so amazing canned created backpacks that are built many times are going to one of those kids in need, national resources, resource centers, and are distributed to teachers across the country. So we're self thankful for this partnership. And it's like a gift that keeps on giving. I love it.

Ben - WeHero: Yeah. We love working with you. All one thing that people love as well, Christine is the ability to get really good data and information about around what's actually happening in education. I think it's, there's so much in the media and there's so much, you know you know, it's people have it to difficult time finding like really good resources and data in regards to what's actually happening ed education right now, you already talked about some of the current challenges that our teachers are facing, that our students are facing. Just having double the materials as an example. What are some of the other challenges that you think are currently facing the education system? I mean, there's obvious that, you know, the pandemic has caused a number of challenges around having enough technology, for example, getting kids back into school, but I'm really curious your take on this. And just what you're seeing right now.

Kristine Cohn: Well, I think, you know I'm going to be who I usually am and I'm gonna say the positive first.

Ben - WeHero: Great.

Ben - WeHero: We'll take it.

Kristine Cohn: Okay. COVID has given us the platform. I mean, how many times did you see the hundreds of stories since last March of parents and folks going, I had it all together. I'm a VP of this. I'm a owner of this, this and the, oh my gosh. And now I have to do this and teach my kids at the same time. How do these teachers do it? How does this happen? I had no idea. I can't help my student with that math. I run a company, I do this, but I don't know that math. Oh my goodness. What it did is really realign many folks minds in our country about the true, true treasure and value we have in our teachers and our educators across this country. And when you think of the nugget that that teacher gets every single morning, that student, that girl, that boy, and what they get to do to mold that student during the day, there are many more adults, many more moms and dads that kind of go, I get it.

Kristine Cohn: Yeah, I get it. I, I, I might have admitted. I mean, as I'm talking kind of like an out body, there might have been a parent say, Hey, I have to tell you something. I might have admitted, but it was just glad I could just put him on that bus or drop him off at that school and pick him up at night and poop. It was done. Now I know what was happening during the day. And that's no easy stuff. And that is not a babysitting service. That is a true value of education that we in our country have. And I think that one, you know, and I know that, you know, this Ben that I used to work I've been in education my whole life. And I used to work for the us department of education. And I will tell you when I would go out and give my, give my talks for the secretaries and stuff like that, what I would say to moms and dads, when I would be at meetings, I'd say, if you do nothing else, do me a favor, give us your child in the morning, come pick them up at night.

Kristine Cohn: And when you see them say, what did you learn today? What did learn today? Make sure they attend. And that is one of the things, and I know Ben, you've heard me say this so many times, there are students, there are girls and boys across our country that because, and not just this year, but for years, because they haven't had the supplies in front of them that maybe a student to the right or to the left of them in that classroom, they feel disengaged. They feel uncomfortable. And sometimes that's just the one less thing that makes them say, who's not gonna do this anymore.

Ben - WeHero: Yeah.

Kristine Cohn: So when we say to parents, get your students there, attendance is so important. It's the same thing for school supplies. When we know that school supplies, help behavior. If, if, if I'm not, if I'm not being cranky, cuz I can see that Sally's got a pencil and John's got a something else that I wish I had. If I've got those same things, I'm probably a, your camper in that classroom and not worried about things. So I'm a better behave person student in that classroom. And I'm there because really when all those things go apart, all we want those kiddos to be doing is paying attention to their teacher and learning.

Ben - WeHero: Yeah, it's so true. And just like you, you see it when you give the student that backpack, like when you give them those tools, their attitude's so positive. This is like Christmas day for them. So all of a sudden you see this attitude adjustment in the classroom of I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to learn. It's almost like it their way of going. Like I have the opportunity now. And I've seen it firsthand before too. I was, I was working in east Palo Alto at some of these schools. And you would see students that didn't have the, the same access to school supplies. You could see the self esteem, you could see the confidence adjust just because of not having those tools. It's just such a powerful mechanism.

Kristine Cohn: Well, in pre COVID, I was at an elementary school in north Chicago and I don't mean just geographically, north of Chicago, a city called, I mean it's up by it's up by the Naval base. Okay. And we were doing a great lakes, stable base and we were doing a pack, a backpack distribution with a company up there. And oh my gosh, that was like the last one I did. And we were, you know, the students were in their classrooms and, and this was one of these ones and this is what I wanted to say to all that are listening and everything. One of the fun things is when we're able to do these backpack gifts and we do it for the entire school. So we can tell all the parents, all the family members and everything you had a lot to worry about as far as going back to school.

Kristine Cohn: One thing you don't have to worry about is because of yada Y company, you are every single boy and girl in this, in this school is gonna be, get a backpack filled with 20 core school supply items. So we always do it for the whole school. So we were doing, we were delivering 'em all. And we just got through this classroom. We were putting them on their desks and having a good time. And we're walking down to the gymnasium to get our big arm pulls of 'em back up and to go back down to another classroom. And this little girl comes running down the hallway and, and I, you know, hair are the footsteps in the back. Then she tugs on my coat and I go, hi, I go, I just saw you. She goes, I said, I said, are you okay? And she goes, yeah, I wanna make sure that everybody is going to get a backpack and I'm going, oh my gosh, Chris, did you forget somebody in there? And I said, sure. I said, everybody. She goes the whole school. I said the whole school. I said, did I miss somebody in there? She goes, no, I just wanted to make sure because my brother is two years older than I am. And he really needs it more than I.

Ben - WeHero: Aw, that's amazing.

Kristine Cohn: Those are the kinda things back to your back to your comment. There are times. And, and when, when these children, when these students get a backpack filled with 20 core school supply items, it may be no, not only the first time they've gotten one or two or three of them brand new, but never 20 back to school, core items. And there's probably lots of folks that are looking at this interview right now and going, oh, my word, I was one of those children. On the other hand, they may be sitting next to somebody who went and said, oh my gosh, I had idea, yeah. That that's ever happened. And that is the impact that kids in need has. And that's why we are so thrilled to be a partner with we hero because you bring our story to life in front of so many people who could make a difference. And whether that's individually, whether that's corporate law whether that's in the future when they talk about other things, but we are we're just committed to doing what we need to do. And, and right now, 90 of every single thing we bring in goes right back out to teachers and girls and boys across the country. And that's a statistic and that's a percentage that we're pretty darn

Ben - WeHero: Proud of. It's a Testament to the quality of organization you all are. And that's one of the reasons we love supporting you is we only wanna support the best organizations out there. You know, that story, Christina, just about this, this young girl, worried that the rest of the school's gonna receive the supplies. You know, one of the things you and I talk about is, you know, kids in need foundations reaching millions of kids and hundreds of thousands of teachers. And when we look at just those living beneath the poverty line, I think are metric that you and I were looking at was around 16 million. That number could be greater. Now just a result of COVID 19, a tough question for you. What does it take or what would it take to support the 16 million kids? Like I that's a, an audacious goal. And what does it take to make that happen? I'm curious to your thoughts.

Kristine Cohn: I don't think it takes just one thing.

Kristine Cohn: I think that when organizations look at their employees, I think that they need to remember that their future employees will be these young girls and boys that are in those classrooms. So a commitment from our corporate partners to say, you know what in our community, we wanna support two schools and we're not gonna say to you, we're only gonna do it one year because you know, if you don't make a difference in one year, it doesn't make a difference. Because as I say, these are consumable and there are more times than any of us wanna know that parents are making a decision between food and utilities or pencils and pens and glue sticks.

Kristine Cohn: And there's, again, I'm gonna say there's probably many people watching this on this, on this call, the at are sitting going, I know that was my parents, or I can't believe that that this is happening in this country. And it's yes, to both it's yes, to both. So stepping up to the plate would be all the parts that you can, and it might look one way for some organization. It might another way for another organization. But I think that making the commitment to teachers and students with core school supplies is something that everybody can stand behind. If we go into this whole last year with all the things that occurred for us to say, my company is gonna step up because allowing equal opportunity to education for all girls and boys in this country is important to me as a business owner and as an employee and as a person it's important to me and every child in this country has the opportunity for equal access to education, access, and implementing that sometimes can only depend on whether they feel they have the supplies and the resources they need to feel comfortable in that classroom.

Kristine Cohn: And all of your amazing partners are able to do those kinds of things. They're able to support kids in need with what is needed to be done now, and as we go forward.

Ben - WeHero: Absolutely. And before we wrap up, Christina, I just wanna say a huge, thank you to you as a long term advocate of education even pre kids in E foundation, you mentioned it for, we have more time. I'd love to get into that story. And another interview about your, just your, your time in government and advocating for education as well. But we wanna thank you for taking the time sharing this story. It's just so important. And if there's one thing I hope people take away from this is that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, there is an opportunity to make a huge impact and that we are here to help you do that. And the kids need foundation is an incredible organization to help get that done and reach these kids.

Kristine Cohn: Thank you. Well, I, I have to, I have to have to say to you, I think one of the things that has just been the greatest joy of my life was thinking that I had retired and getting an organization that I had met when I was with the department of education. The kids in need foundation had them reach out to me of which I thought I was gonna get to be a board member and have them say, we need you to talk about with credibility. Talk about what's going on. We within the classrooms, across the United States, I mean, you are an educator, you're a teacher, you you've gotten this. And this, as I told my husband was only gonna be for two years, I'm now in going past my 12th year. He doesn't believe me on those kinds of things. It goes kind of discussions anymore. But the point is, is that I never thought I would have the joy in my life to be able to work for an organization like the kids in need foundation that morning, noon and night is laser focused on thinking about teachers, students, and the simple, easy core school supplies that they need to get the education. That's gonna give them a life that they deserve so dearly. So thank you, Ben. And we hero for everything that you're helping us do.

Ben - WeHero: Oh my gosh. We're so happy to be a part of it. And Christine, where can people find out more about you, the kids in need foundation? How can people connect?

Kristine Cohn: Absolutely. www.kinf.org like in kids in need foundation, but K I N f.org, or you can just give me a call at Christine or email me@christinedotcomkinf.org, but we'll take care of you. Any support, large, medium or small is welcomed and we'll find a place for you in our home.

Ben - WeHero: Absolutely. And if there's folks listening to this from the we hero family that would like to connect with Christine, we're happy to facilitate that introduction. Christine, thank you again for taking the time. We're so excited about working with you, partnering with you, and we're so excited about what we can accomplish this year and moving forward. And so we thank you for the time and for everything you and the kids need foundation are doing, we really, really appreciate it.

Kristine Cohn: It's mutual admiration between the both of us!