My hubby turned the big “4-0” this past October and I wanted to mark the milestone in a big way. He’s a morning radio host here in Jax and I thought it was about time we gave back to our community. Jacksonville is our adopted home. We’ve been here for 8 years (which is still hard to believe!) and we finally feel completely settled. He loves his job. We love our neighborhood and school. We live 15 minutes from the beach and 2 hours from Disney World. What more could we want?
We know we are very lucky and have a super blessed life. So for my husband’s 40th, we decided to create a family charity called Kaye’s Kids. Kaye’s Kids gifts Apple computer computer products (iPads, iPhones, iPods) to children with life-threatening illnesses.
Many of these children are going through tough treatments and long hospital stays. Some are home and want to stay connected with friends and family. So instead of birthday presents, my husband asked our family and friends for a donation to Kaye’s Kids. Because of all their generous love and support, we launched our first program, ‘The 12 iPads of Christmas,” in December. We gave 12 brave children an iPad mini. It was amazing to meet all the kids and their families. Here are some of the smiles from that amazing day.
That’s my husband Mark in the Santa hat and his gorgeous co-host, Meghan. All the kids had a blast playing with their new iPads, enjoying sweet treats, and touring the radio station.
If you’re interested in starting a charity in your city, I recommend you find an established charity and partner with them first as one of their special programs. Our awesome partner is Dreams Come True of Jacksonville. They help us manage all the Kaye’s Kids funds and select the children to receive the Apple products. They assist us in promoting our fundraising efforts and they give us lots of moral support. Please help us spread the word about Kaye’s Kids by liking our official Facebook page or visiting kayeskids.org. Thank you so much.