This April, 10 Kansas Citians will be featured by SevenDays for their kindness as the organization commemorates its 10th anniversary.
SevenDays is a Kansas City-based nonprofit organization that aims to overcome hate by promoting kindness and understanding through education and dialogue. It was created 10 years ago after a white supremacist murdered Dr. William Corporon, his grandson Reat Underwood and Teresa LaManno outside of Jewish facilities in Overland Park, Kansas.
This year’s SevenDays will take place beginning Wednesday, April 10, and continuing through Sunday, April 18.
The SevenDays Kindness Breakfast will take place on Wednesday, April 10, from 7:30-9:30 a.m. at the Leawood Campus of the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection (13720 Roe Ave, Leawood, KS 66224 — Building B, the Foundry).
To commemorate the 10th anniversary, 10 individuals have been chosen as finalists for the organization’s 2024 Ripple of Kindness Award. This annual award is to recognize individuals who have gone above and beyond in demonstrating kindness through their actions and words. The honoree is someone whose impact on the community is apparent, but they have no expectation of reward or return.
Previous recipients include Trent Green, former Kansas City Chiefs quarterback; Dayton Moore, former Kansas City Royals president of Baseball Operations; and Lisa Ginter, CEO of CommunityAmerica Credit Union. Ginter will present this year’s award.
The finalists are:
- Kevin Birzer - Co-founder and board member of the Giving Grove, a nonprofit organization that assists low-income communities across the United States in improving food security by developing ecological and sustainable tree gardens to provide healthy food choices.
- Alvin Brooks - Community activist and former Kansas City, Missouri, city councilman who founded the AdHoc Group Against Crime, a nonprofit organization to bring healing and justice to Kansas City metro communities.
- Peggy Dunn - Former mayor of Leawood, Kansas, who has served in board leadership of numerous civic organizations.
- Alan Edelman - Former associate executive director of Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City and current chair of the Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council.
- Eyyup Esen - Outreach director of the Dialogue Institute of the Southwest and college educator.
- SuEllen Fried - Dance therapist, author and community activist who founded BullySafe USA, Reaching Out From Within and the Kansas Committee to Prevent Child Abuse.
- Bob Kendrick - President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, an organization he started with as a volunteer.
- Dr. Gary Morsch - A physician who is founder of the Global Care Force and Heart to Heart International focused on delivering medical relief around the world.
- Barbara Unell - Author and co-founder of The Raised with Love and Limits Foundation and the founder of Back in the Swing and the Daniel L. Brenner Family Education Center.
- Kar Woo - A native of Hong Kong who came to the U.S. for college; he is founder and program director of the Artists Helping the Homeless.
Additionally, 16 area communities have signed on as SevenDays Kindness Cities: Kansas City, North Kansas City, Parkville and Raymore, Missouri; and Bonner Springs, the Unified Government of Wyandotte County, Leawood, Lenexa, Merriam, Mission, Olathe, Overland Park, Prairie Village, Roeland Park, Shawnee and Spring Hill, Kansas.
To commemorate the 10th anniversary, Johnson County, Kansas, has joined SevenDays as its first Kindness County and the Mid-America Regional Council is its first regional partner, representing 119 cities across nine counties on both sides of the state line. Those interested can follow each community’s social media outlets for details on they are participating.
SevenDays Youth
During the Kindness Breakfast, SevenDays will recognize area high school youth who designed this year’s themed stickers and Kindness Action Scholarship winners. Sponsorships and limited individual tickets are available at sevendays.org.
On Sunday, April 14, SevenDays will host its first Community Kindness Festival, a free event from 4:30 to 7 p.m. on the grounds of The J (5801 W. 115th St., Overland Park, KS 66211). The festival will include music, food trucks and interactive kindness activities for people of all ages.
Kansas Citian Kate Cosentino, a finalist on NBC’s “The Voice”' in 2023, will be the festival’s headliner. Cosentino, a cousin of Terri LaManno, was a SevenDays song competition winner in 2015.
SevenDays’ Kindness Youth Leadership Team (KYLT) has played an important role in planning this year’s events. Thirty-five area high school students serve on the 2024 KYLT. The youth group is made up of students from a variety of schools, grades, faiths and races. These teens are also planning events at their own schools.
On the ensuing days, SevenDays encourages schools, businesses and families, to celebrate kindness through the other daily themes:
- April 11 — “Discover”
- April 12 — “Others”
- April 15 — “Connect”
- April 16 — “You”
- April 17 — “Go”
- April 18 — “Onward”
Free resources are available from SevenDays including tools for educators, faith groups, businesses and organizations.
SevenDays continues to broaden its efforts to engage K-12 youth, offering grants for Kindness Clubs and Kindness Walks at educational institutions. SevenDays resources and grants have reached Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.
Schools, businesses, community organizations, and families are invited to create their own activities and share them through SevenDays social media sites by tagging @GiveSevenDays and using #givesevendays and #betheripple.
SevenDays financial sponsors to date include CommunityAmerica Credit Union, AdventHealth, Blessing Abound, Creative Planning, The J, Irv and Ellen Robinson Family Foundation and Artists Helping the Homeless.
More information about SevenDays is available at sevendays.org or by contacting Ruth Baum Bigus at (913) 707-7746 or at .
