Community Spotlight: Fox & Trove Kindness Camp

“A child is bullied every 7 minutes. 90% of kids in school report being victims of bullying. The average number of attempted teen suicides per year is 575,000.  Bullying is one of the main causes of suicide.  We have to make a change.” – Fox & Trove

Fox & Trove is a wonderful organization that is spreading kindness across the U.S. through it’s kindness camps! We caught up with Jacqueline who is running the program locally here in the South Bay to learn more!

Tell us about Fox & Trove
“Fox and Trove is a national nonprofit on a mission to empower kids to be world changers by teaching them how to be kind and brave. The organization was started by Jami Schaer and Laura Wood in Chicago and quickly grew into 4 states including California & New York by volunteers.  We teach kindness and bully prevention through a school kindness curriculum and our summer kindness camp, World Changer Camp.  So far we have had (# of students) participate in the program and we are continuing to have more camps in communities across the country. 

I got involved because I wanted to something locally to combat bullying when I came across Fox & Trove’s Website. I reached out to the owners to see how we can bring it to the South Bay, and now we are not only in the South Bay but looking to grow in California and Nevada!   Currently there are camps in Carlsbad and Redondo Beach.” 

How did Fox & Trove get started?
“Jami who kept hearing from friends that their kids were already being bullied in kindergarten and first grade started Fox and Trove. She couldn’t believe this was happening at such a young age and she knew she had to do something about it so she began to research bullying and how to stop it. The one thing researchers agree on is that the best way to stop bullying is to prevent it before it even has a chance to start, by teaching kids in the early formative years of 3 – 6 how to be kind. She asked Laura to join her and together they created a comprehensive education program that not only teaches kids kindness, but bravery as well. They always say Kindness + Bravery = Resilient Happiness, and that’s what they want for all kids. They wanted to reach kids in the classroom and at home so they developed a kindness curriculum for schools and summer camps.

What inspired me was my daughter! I can’t imagine her being bullied by any kid of any age! I believe that everything can be taught at a young age. While most traits begin at home, camps like this have a huge impact on kid’s outlook in life. I am lucky to have gone to a school with zero tolerance when it comes to bullying but most of my friends who have kids in school here in the US experience bullying in school and it is sad that most schools don’t really handle it properly or too afraid to set rules in place when it comes to bullying, whether verbally, physically or even in social media. “

What is one of your proudest moments?
“One of our proudest moments was hearing from a mom that we not only helped her son, but we changed her family. It’s so rewarding to know our program is not only helping kids become kind, empathetic and resilient people but also that parents are engaged and seeing the benefits of kindness and bravery education at home.”

What can one expect when getting involved?
“We always welcome volunteers to help us spread our kind and brave movement! Volunteers can help spread our message through social media, host fundraisers to bring our kindness curriculum to their preschools and kindergarten classrooms or even host a fundraiser to bring our summer camp to an underprivileged city for families who typically can’t afford to send their kids to summer camp. High school and college students can even volunteer to be camp counselors.”

How can the community support you?
“Our ultimate goal is to make our kindness curriculum free to every school because every child deserves social-emotional learning (SEL), regardless of socio-economic status. We also plan to have free camps for families in need. Therefore, donations and grants are so greatly appreciated. Also, if anyone knows Ellen or Kristen Bell…tell them about us! We’d love to have them involved with Fox and Trove to help us make kindness education a priority and easily accessible to all kids!”

Where do the donations go?
“We are a small, efficiently run 501(c)(3) nonprofit and 100% of donations go toward our kindness program. The impact we make is immediate and profound. We’ve created a program that can be quickly and easily implemented in any school, in any town. Recently we used to a grant to gift our curriculum to over 100 schools. That means each year approximately 6,000 kindergartners will receive consistent and meaningful SEL kindness education.”

Tell us a little about you!
“I was born and raised in the Philippines. I moved to the US in 2010 along with my husband who is originally from Michigan. We met in Abu Dhabi and got married in the Philippines in 2007. I’m an international flight attendant and have been in the aviation industry for over 10 years and I love it! When I’m not cruising the friendly skies, I manage a uniform manufacturing and T-shirt printing business in LA with a satellite office in the Philippines. We have been in South Bay for almost 2 years now. We moved here from Las Vegas and before that, we lived in Miami. I’m passionate about recycling, eliminating plastic and getting rid of material things that don’t serve a purpose and things that don’t bring me joy. I am slowly transitioning into a minimalist lifestyle and it’s challenging to influence everyone living with us but it’s doable. Our ultimate goal is to move to a tropical island where we can hang out at the beach all day while my husband scuba dives and clean up he ocean.”

For more information on Fox & Trove, you can check out their website:  foxandtrove.com

And follow them on Facebook & Instagram