Our organization provides support to newly arrived refugees and immigrants in the Greater St. Louis Area. Our goal is to serve these families by helping them connect with each other and the greater Saint Louis community. We offer women's socials to combat isolation, English classes for everyone in a family, and driving permit and practice courses.
Kindness Begins with Me的外部链接
6740 Loughborough Ave
US，Missouri，St Louis，63123
Congrats, Zahra! We’re proud to know you.
Congratulations to Zahra Mosawi, who was awarded a startup business grant of $20,000 through the IISTL Afghan Support Program. Zahra started a retail fashion business, Silk Road Boutique, and this grant will further her endeavors to open a brick and mortar location within the City of St. Louis. Our IICDC team was proud to support the pitch process for the participants. #inclusionstl
Welcome to our newest Board Member - Kwira Vickers! We're so glad to have her join the Kindness Begins with Me team.
Many of our friends at Kindness Begins with Me are celebrating Ramadan this month. For those who don't know, Ramadan is a holy month for people of Muslim faith. Ramadan marks the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar and is a holy month of community, prayer and fasting for Muslims. We will be honoring the Ramadan ritual of Iftar by hosting an Iftar dinner this Thursday, 3/6 at KindMe. Join us if you can! Additionally, a family in our community tragically lost their patriarch this week. If you are able to support this family, please do so using the GoFundMe link below: https://lnkd.in/gvqsSvSh
Thanks to all of our volunteers who attended last night's Know Your Rights training! We look forward to hosting other friends and community partners this evening for our second training. Email [email protected] if you're interested in attending this evening.
The Kindness Begins with Me team is constantly working to be active in our St. Louis community. We are always happy to chat about volunteer opportunities and ways to get involved with us! This week, Toni, our Volunteer Coordinator, attended the St. Louis University 2025 Spring Career Fair. Toni has 2 adult children at SLU and loves to represent Kindness at SLU events! Today, Toni and Jess attended the St. Louis County Children's Service Fund Fireside Chat and Networking event! We're grateful to community partners like Saint Louis University and St. Louis County Children's Service Fund for opening their doors to us and connecting with Kindness Begins with Me!
Kindness Begins with Me is participating in an international movement called Project for Awesome (P4A), which is an annual event to raise awareness for organizations who make the world a better place Check out the video (made by our very own R.E.A.D.Y. Board) and vote! You can vote on EVERY device you have! Spread the word and let's get a bunch of votes for Kindness Begins with Me. https://lnkd.in/g4AWR78Q
On Thursday, Kindness Begins with Me got an email from the Missouri Office of Refugee Administration, confirming that the federal funds we use to support Afghan refugees are frozen. At this time, we are unsure when, or if, the funds in our contract will be released. That means a loss of more than $90,000 -- nearly 60% of our overall budget for 2025. When we started as a volunteer run organization in 2023, we served approximately 120 refugees each week. These funds make this work sustainable. Today, we serve over 200+ refugees each week through English classes, driver's permit classes, driving instruction, women's social groups, and the transportation that allows families to access these programs. We know our programs serve critical needs for refugee families as they build a new life in St. Louis. We are working as hard as we can to ensure that our mission to build a thriving community with refugee families can continue. To continue this mission, to continue our work, we need to replace the federal funds. Our refugee families are experiencing fear and uncertainty; they, like all of us, are unsure of what is coming next. We have a moral obligation to stand with them by continuing to provide high-quality support. Please give if you are able - no amount is too small. If you have the capacity to give a larger gift, please reach out directly. Give here: https://lnkd.in/grc3QZx9 In KINDness, Jessica Pachak Executive Director
Join Kindness Begins with Me at our inaugural trivia night - "A Kinder World" on Saturday, November 16, 2024! We'll have food, games and prizes as well as an incredible silent auction! Don't miss out -- tables are selling fast! Register below: https://lnkd.in/g3eAf_n2