Students receive Kid Kindness Grant for homeless care kits

By Breana Ross

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    ANNAPOLIS, Maryland (WBAL) — A nonprofit organization in Annapolis is rewarding youth in a special community program for their work to help homeless people.

Clara Schmitt smiles as she reaches out to lend a helping hand to someone in need.

“Here’s a little kit. It has a little gift card in it and a few things to keep warm for the winter,” said Clara as she handed a care kit to someone in need.

Clara is an eighth grader at Wiley H. Bates Middle School, but she already has a passion for helping people without housing. Clara and her 11-year-old brother, Emmett Schmitt, first noticed a need while riding to and from the Maryland Proton Treatment Center in Baltimore as their mom received radiation treatment for breast cancer. They saw several homeless people along the way.

“We wanted to help them, so sometimes, we would find gift cards, or something like that, in our car and give them out,” Clara told 11 News. “We love seeing their reactions when they got it, so me and my younger brother decided that we wanted to do something more than just gift card or a little bit of cash and put together some kits that would help them through the winter.”

Clara and Emmett applied for a Kid Kindness Grant through Kindness Grows Here, a grassroots nonprofit organization designed to cultivate a culture of compassion and kindness in children. Clara and Emmett received a $500 award, enough to pack 25 care kits for people who are homeless.

“I was so excited for them,” said Emily Karcher Schmitt, Clara and Emmett’s mother. “This made it possible that they could go through the process, and that’s the fun part. It’s almost like putting together a Christmas gift.”

Each kit has a blanket, gloves, socks, hand warmers, hand sanitizer, a $10 McDonald’s gift card and a handwritten note. Clara and Emmett hand-deliver each care kit.

“I really hope that I can help them feel very cared for and help them stay warm throughout the winter,” Clara told 11 News.

Clara and Emmett’s Kid Kindness Grant project, “Radiate Love,” is one of 47 Kid Kindness Grant projects across the country and around the world.

Spreading kindness and seeing kindness is nothing new for Clara and Emmett. They’ve seen plenty of it as they’ve watched their mother battle breast cancer.

“Over the past 15 months, we have been recipients of so many acts of kindness — between meals and cards in the mail and even people bringing by little things to keep the kids occupied,” Karcher Schmitt told 11 News. “They’ve gotten used to saying ‘thank you’ all the time because of so many acts of kindness that I really wonder if some of this kind of subconsciously seeped in and made them realize there’s so much more they can give.”

As Clara continues to think about what she can give, she wants other children to do the same.

“I hope that other kids will probably think of ways to help more people and maybe put that effort into making people happy and spreading kindness and positivity,” Clara told 11 News.

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