Closets for a Cause Helps KidSmart
Saint Louis Closet Co. has selected KidSmart for their giveback effort, Closets for a Cause, in August. A percentage of gross sales from August will be donated to assist the organization by equipping numerous students with the school supplies they need during this time.
“KidSmart and 200,000 St. Louis students in need will greatly benefit from the extraordinary generosity and kindness from Saint Louis Closet Co.,” said KidSmart Founder and CEO Jennifer Miller. “Studies show that students with access to quality school supplies report a 75% increase in self-esteem. With this donation, KidSmart will be able to collect an even larger amount of supplies and resources for the students we serve.”
KidSmart is featured in the 2020 edition of Sophisticated Giving.
Who We Are: KidSmart-Tools for Learning is a St. Louis, MO based not for profit organization. KidSmart was founded in 2000 by a local educator who left the classroom and in 2002 opened Missouri’s first, and still today, only, free educational supply store (“The KidSmart Free Store”). KidSmart has built a community-wide collaboration, which provides critical, stable educational resources for tens of thousands of students whose families live in poverty. Throughout each school year, KidSmart distributes millions of school supplies to students in need, and has since 2002. The 2019-2020 school year is a big, transitional year for KidSmart. Having reached full capacity in the space occupied for 17 years, leadership looked to secure a larger, permanent home and in August 2019, KidSmart closed on a new building in Maryland Heights, MO! The organization is beginning what will be a complete renovation and build-out in 2019 & 2020. During the transition, and given that the KidSmart Free Store will reopen in the 2020-2021 school year, distribution and impact have continued to grow through KidSmart On the Go!, a mobile outreach program, and KidSmart Pop Up Shops.
What We Do: KidSmart empowers children in need to succeed in school by providing free essential tools for learning. KidSmart distributes millions of free school supplies and educational resources to local St. Louis area students. Since opening in 2002, KidSmart has placed $60 million in free school directly into the hands of 200,000 local area students in need. The free supplies are distributed throughout each school year to students in 161 local schools, 4,000 classrooms, in our highest poverty neighborhoods.
Why We Are Important: KidSmart is the champion of hopes and dreams for tens of thousands of students who live in poverty and attend high poverty schools in the St. Louis region. KidSmart believes that every child, regardless of age, race or socioeconomic background, deserves daily access to the most critical tools needed to empower learning and success in school. Before KidSmart, thousands of students attended school without pencils, paper, books…often without absolutely any supplies at all.
How We Impact the Community: School supplies are THE critical educational resources for children in impoverished communities. Studies, such as the one published by Adele Diamond, titled “Close Interrelation of Motor Development and Cognitive Development,” report that physical school supplies are highly important to the developing mind and promoting the use of motor development which in turn increases cognitive development. Learning is a holistic endeavor and gives children, especially PreK-5th grade, increased access to developing their motor skills, which is directly correlated to how well they may develop more abstract cognitive abilities and spatial thinking. This all begins by having children perform important manual actions: writing, drawing, and reading. Many of these manual actions would not be possible without the direct support and impact of the schools supplies KidSmart distributes.
Donations: KidSmart relies on the generosity of the community, as the organization delivers a powerful 5x ROI and 94% of every gift goes directly back to the mission and programs. KidSmart is completely, privately funded and every gift really is important. Even a one-time $25 gift equips a child with a backpack filled with supplies. Continue that support each month and 12 students will be equipped for success throughout the entire year! A gift of $5,000 equips all of the students in an entire school! It’s easy to make a big impact at www.kidsmartstl.org/give and those with Missouri business income may even be eligible for KidSmart’s Missouri NAP Tax Credits.
Volunteering: Each day, a team of “family” volunteers are needed for everything from sorting supplies, stocking shelves, delivering resources directly to students in the classrooms, organizing supply drives, administrative and warehouse support, and just spreading the word about 90,000 KidSmart kids and the importance of KidSmart’s mission in our community. Email info@kidsmartstl.org for more info!
On Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube you can find us under: @KidSmartstl
180 Progress Parkway, Maryland Heights, MO 63043
Board Members:
William G. Adams (Chairman)
Owner & President, NSC Diversified
Robert M. Cox, Jr. (Chair Emeritus)
Retired Senior VP, Administration Emerson
Tina Passanise-Emig. (Secretary)
Director of Customer Relations Royal Papers
Victor Lazzaretti (Legal Counsel)
Vice President, Deputy General Counsel & Assistant Secretary, Emerson
Greg Aman (Treasurer)
Senior Vice President and Client Manager, UMB Bank
Tyler P. Alcorn
Principal, The Ashcroft Group
Steven Carrico
Director of Real Estate, LDC Properties
Brad Dieck
Senior Vice President, Senior Portfolio Manager and Director of Family Office Investments,
Commerce Trust
Matthew R. Embleton
Principal, Edward Jones
Sonya Gotto
Owner & CEO, Advanced Resources
John W. Hummel
Executive Vice President, US Bank
Kimberly K. McCurdy
Vice President of Human Resources, Enterprise Holdings, Inc.
Jennifer D. Miller
Founder & CEO, KidSmart
Tiffany Wild
Owner, The Place