Kiwanis Club of Greater Music City Foundation
615-870-7040
Share page
7020 Stone Run Drive
Nashville, TN 37211
Organization Details

Programs

Budget
$106,000.00
Description
What the world needs most now is kindness to be prevalent in every aspect of life. A pandemic, needless wars, a lack of concern for others, animals and the earth have combined to bring traumatic stress to everyone. Teaching and mentoring kindness to children and their families will change the culture of a community and beyond.
In partnership with Children's Kindness Network and Moozie the cow as the ambassador of kindness, children will learn and develop the habit of kindness and influence others to embrace the basic necessary skill of social-emotional learning and life success. We will distribute books, curriculum and activity guides, and other resources to schools, after school programs, childcare agencies, faith institutions, health care facilities, public libraries and elsewhere. We will start in areas of Tennessee that we currently serve, then statewide and nationwide through Kiwanis and SLP clubs. We will read with children in classrooms and elsewhere and model kind behavior.
Program Successes
A stellar example of a young lady who grew up with the influence of the Moozie books and resources is a 16 year old girl who is a top scholar, an inventor, a scientist, developer of the Kindly app to monitor vocabulary in social media, an international speaker, a mentor to approximately 150,000 peers through personal and virtual contexts, and currently (Summer 2022) involved in a summer program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology doing research in infectious diseases which is her career ambition. She was named by Time Magazine in December 2020 as its first ever "Kid of the Year."
Other children learning from Moozie's lessons have been documented in recent articles in neurological and brain research journals as having been a significant positive influence on their parents and other family members and friends so as to multiply the impact of kindness in all factes of family relationships and life.
Beneficiaries
Children
Infants and Toddlers
Long-term Success
Within five years we target to have the Moozie books and resources placed into all the public elementary school Pre-K through Second Grade classrooms in Middle Tennessee (with the collaboration of other Kiwanis Clubs and school districts and Kiwanis sponsored Service Leadership Program Clubs).
We will have continuing quarterly, monthly, or weekly reading programs with Kiwanis and other volunteers in all interested schools and public libraries and provide materials for the children to have at home to share with parents and siblings.
The children who have been thus developed to model kindness in all aspects of life will be exemplary in mastering the social and emotional learning skills and diligent and successful in academics. They will proceed to become active participants in the Service Leadership Programs in their elementary, middle and high schools and mature to be positive contributors to their families, workplaces, communities and society.

Short-term Success
By September 30, 2023, we will have donated 1,500 copies of each of the 3 current books ("Moozie's Kind Adventure", "Moozie's Orchestra Adventure", and "Moozie's Magic") along with a like number of Moozie hand puppets, activity and curriculum guides, posters, coloring pages and books, to a total of 1,500 elementary school Pre-K through Second Grade classrooms, school libraries, and public libraries.
In this same period, we will have read to the same classrooms in at least 40 schools and in at least 10 public libraries to young children. Each such session will include a costumed Moozie proclaiming to be kind to others, animals, the Earth, and themselves and will include discussion and materials for the children to take home to learn to model the desired behavior.
We will have started Children's Kindness Clubs in at least 10 elementary schools for 4 to 6 year old children, and K-Kids Clubs at the same schools to read with and mentor the younger children as a regular service program.
Program Success Monitored By
The most common and nearly always positive indication of success has been parents and teachers stating how much better behaved, more helpful and more successful the children, who have lived the Moozie lessons of kindness, are than they were before and in comparison to their peers who have not learned and acquired the lessons and traits. Passed experience has also shown in improvement in academic achievements as well as in sharing their example with others, thus reducing the likelihood of bullying, intimidation and cruel teasing.
The real evidence will come when the children who are inspired and motivated by Moozie's lessons of kindness become adults and pass those positive and valuable lessons on through their influence as parents, teachers, business, community, nonprofit and civic leaders.
Program Areas Served
Davidson County, TN, Williamson County, TN
Budget
$20,000.00
Description
Kiwanis branded, sponsored and mentored Service Leadership Programs originated in 1925 with the first Key Club. K-Kids Clubs in elementary schools, Builders Clubs in middle schools, and Key Clubs in high schools build on social and emotional learning themes to develop servant leaders and a passion for community service. They improve teamwork skills and aptitudes and help satisfy school, scholarship application and college entrance requirements for service hours and meaningful community impact. Key Club also offers the members to engage on the regional, state, national and international level with other clubs and members in 40 nations to learn and exchange ideas for projects and further development.
Bring Up Grades to motivate and reward academic improvement and Terrific Kids to motivate and reward character and citizenship improvement are committed to assist elementary school students, parents and teachers in the development of children to reach their full potential.
Program Successes
An example of the SLP program success is a child who participates actively in K-Kids Club for several years in elementary school while achieving Bring Up Grades and Terrific Kids recognition at each grading period, then advancing and actively engaging with Builders Club in middle school (helping to start a new one if necessary), and then advancing and actively engaging with Key Club in high school (helping to start a new one if necessary) where they would far exceed the school's service hour requirement and qualify for multiple scholarships and receive acceptance to the top colleges of their choice. We hope these students would ultimately become Kiwanians who would pay forward the mentoring and support that they received to the next generation of society's servant leaders and philanthropists.
Beneficiaries
Children and Youth (0 - 19 years)
K-12 (5-19 years)
Long-term Success
Long-term success is reflected by the development of all leadership skills to be exercised in work, family, civic, church and other settings throughout an individual's life, and the passion for altruistic community service to continually strive to respond to needs and to improve the lives of themselves and others. An additional value of the service experience is learning the need of philanthropy to support worthy causes beyond volunteerism in order to increase the individual's impact on community development.
We currently sponsor a Key Club at Brentwood High School which was reactivated following the COVID-19 pandemic and shutdown of extracurricular programs at all schools. There should be a Key Club at every high school, and we will strive to help establish and nurture clubs at 20 high schools with the next 3 years. During the same time we will strive to create a K-Kids Club at 30 elementary schools and a Builders Club at 20 middle schools.
Short-term Success
Short-term success is the mastering of the concepts and skills of leadership and teamwork and as a part of a team to accomplish worthwhile and impactful tasks in the school, community and to support outside nonprofit organizations to do the same. Taking on leadership roles as officers as well as task and committee chairmanships enhances the skills and competency of the children and youth. Further indications of short-term success is the innovation and planning of more complex and impactful service projects and activities.
Within the next year we target to establish at least 10 each of Key Clubs, Builders Clubs and K-Kids Clubs, and a collaborative community Circle K Club with student members from multiple colleges and universities in the area who can have a tremendous impact on the volunteer needs of the community while developing their own leadership and service learning skills to take forward into their lives and careers.
Program Success Monitored By
Measures of success include leadership roles taken on and completed successfully; the number of service hours performed including planning, preparation, implementation and evaluation; the number of meetings of the club and committees attended and actively participated in; funds raised for philanthropy; involvement in Division, District, or International meetings, conventions, trainings, etc. for Key Club members; observation of improved collaboration and communication with peers; improved academic grades; increased attendance at school. For Key Club members, other measures of success are improved ACT or SAT scores and qualification for the Tennessee Promise scholarships as well as other scholarships and college applications which include extra curricular activities and service hours as significant qualifications.
Program Areas Served
Davidson County, Dickson County, Houston County, Humphreys County, Williamson County
Budget
$80,000.00
Description
This project will address the primary need that has been identified in our community which is to help prepare young children of preschool age for school and life. The specific needs that are within the capacity of our club are:Helping to decrease the incidence of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and to provide resilience and mitigation methods for those children who already have ACE factors (CDC reports 61% of TN children have at least one, 27% have at least 3). The "peace corners" and "charging stations" address these issues.Helping to develop an interest and passion for reading well before kindergarten to help raise the literacy of third graders reading at grade level from the current 28% in Nashville to 75% by 2025. This benchmark is associated with success in education and life.To assist in providing social and emotional learning for life skills and developing relationships for success. We plan to identify 10 pilot sites to begin the project and add others as funds permit.
Category
Youth Development  - Youth Development, General/Other 
Beneficiaries
Children and Youth (0 - 19 years)
Long-term Success
A goal of 12,000 books distributed to children in Title I elementary schools of Metro Nashville Public Schools was met during the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 academic years in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, and surpassed during the 2021-2022 academic year with almost 20,000 books donated.
In collaboration with Children's Kindness Network, Kiwanis Clubs in 80 nations and geographic areas, the Kiwanis Service Leadership Programs, and school districts and public libraries, our goal for the next 5 years is to donate and distribute 100,000 books focused on kindness and social-emotional learning to thousands of elementary school classrooms and school libraries as well as public libraries along with hand puppets, activity guides, curriculum guides, posters, coloring pages, and other resource materials for children, parents, and teachers.
Short-term Success
During the next year, in collaboration with Children's Kindness Network, Kiwanis Clubs in Middle Tennessee, the Kiwanis Service Leadership Programs, and school districts and public libraries, our goal is to donate and distribute 5,000 books focused on kindness and social-emotional learning to thousands of elementary school classrooms and school libraries as well as public libraries along with hand puppets, activity guides, curriculum guides, posters, coloring pages, and other resource materials for children, parents, and teachers.
Program Areas Served
Davidson, Williamson, Dickson, Houston & Humphries Counties