Imagine a place where young students are handed the reins to craft their very own service project. The project is designed by them, based on their passions, and it serves their local community.
This isn’t a dream - it’s a reality thanks to Kids Helping Kids (KHK), a local youth-led service organization in Stamford. It’s an organization that has greatly impacted not just me, but thousands of other volunteers and over 65,000 youth it has served.
KHK closes a gap that other organizations don’t; they empower the youngest voices from any and every background to advocate for themselves and for what they believe in. Then, the organization provides the support and resources students need to make their projects happen.
I first encountered KHK as a shy fourth-grade student with a crippling fear of adults. I attended an orientation meeting and was asked to write down my passions. For 9-year-old me, that was live theater, and one year later, I turned that into a project.
Co-founder Jennifer Kelley told me at that orientation meeting that I would be able to turn any passion of mine into a service project to help others. She said I could make it happen all by myself and as KHK does with all of its volunteers, Kelley showed me the skills I needed to take 20 people from Stamford’s homeless shelter, Inspirica, to see live theater for the very first time.
The feeling I had during my project, seeing the delight and awe on the students’ faces, knowing I had made it happen as a fifth grader, is one I’ll never forget. That feeling is the reason that KHK has such an impact on not just the children it serves, but the volunteers it shapes into leaders.
Along with the leadership skills I’ve gained, I’ve met incredible people like fellow volunteer Biyeni Eusebio, now a rising senior year at the University of Southern California. She credits her accomplishments to her early days with the organization, beginning back in 2014.
“The great thing about volunteering and the great thing about Kids Helping Kids is that you put so much into the community and it just all seems to come back through learning different types of leadership skills and making new friends and connections,” Eusebio said. “It really just changed my perspective on who I am and I genuinely don’t think that I would be as successful without it.”
When Eusebio first started, she was shy and quiet, taking tasks as assigned but never sharing her ideas. One day, however, it all changed when someone told her they were impressed by her volunteering.
From then on, Eusebio became a leader in large-scale projects like the Handled with Care Boutique, an opportunity to shop for free formalwear, the Gift of Giving, a free holiday fair designed to give kids the opportunity to feel the magic of gift giving, and even the Pumpkin Bread Bake, the organization’s biggest fundraiser every fall that sells breads and donates them to Inspirica.
“It’s just the best foundation to get to where you want to be, because I’m where I want to be, and I’m sure that in 10 years I’ll be where I want to be because of everything that Kids Helping Kids has taught me.”
Another amazing volunteer I met was recent graduate Livia Guzda who joined Kids Helping Kids for confirmation requirements. Yet, after her 50 required hours, she was too passionate to step away.
“KHK has truly shaped me into the woman I am today,” Guzda explained. “I grew into myself without even realizing how far I’ve come.”
While at KHK, Guzda spearheaded a variety of projects including a science class, Girls' Night Out, a carefree night of pampering for local girls, and an annual mental health fair. She’s also led new volunteer orientations.
“I remember going to my first orientation meeting being so nervous to meet new people and stand in front of a crowd to introduce myself.”
Guzda served on the Youth Advisory Council for several years where she not only led the monthly orientation meetings, but led presentations at Kids Helping Kids’ launch event last year where she spoke to hundreds of people.
Guzda and Eusebio are proof of KHK’s mission to not just enrich the community, but transform its volunteers.
“It’s really rare to be told, ‘Yes, you can do whatever you want as long as you’re passionate about it and it can help someone else,’” said Eusebio. “To this day, I haven’t found anything like Kids Helping Kids when it comes to giving youth the power.”
As for the future of KHK, Executive Director Jennifer Bentley says she hopes to, “strengthen our presence in the Stamford community, positioning Kids Helping Kids as the premier nonprofit for cultivating the next generation of leaders while addressing critical community needs.”
Bentley started as a parent volunteer in 2016 but her passion for and love of the mission and model led her to a full-time role with KHK a year later.
“KHK is unique in that our youth volunteers inform our decisions and the direction of our programming,” Bentley explained. “They share their personal interests and work together to lead service projects that benefit the community.”
Bentley also talked about increasing the volunteer base, particularly among students. The variety of volunteer commitment levels and unique opportunities are what make KHK so special to its volunteers and the thousands that their projects serve. If that isn’t convincing enough, hear how Eusebio would convince someone to join:
“I would tell them to think about the person that they most look up to and the person that inspires them the most, and I would tell them that there’s a possibility to reach that point and that the best way to start is with Kids Helping Kids.”
Cultivating the next generation of leaders while addressing critical community needs.