Statements
Mission
Mission: To instill the values of kindness among young children through Moozie the Cow in various learning environments, and spread joy to children through Moozie.
Vision: To shape a world where kindness prevails.
Core Values: Compassion, Integrity, Collaboration, and Empowerment
Compassion: We are all given time, talents, and treasure to help those in need.
Integrity: We will adhere to moral and ethical principles.
Collaboration: We will work collaboratively with nonprofit and educational organizations and parents to assure the best possible outcome of our mission and resources for children.
Empowerment: We will strive to help children to become stronger and more confident, especially in controlling their life and claiming their rights to reach their full potential.
Goals:
1. Increase the visibility and number of environments in which CKN interacts with children (a) in person and (b) digitally.
2. Expand CKN's compassionate outreach with children worldwide.
3. Evaluate and appropriately position CKN's learning resources and merchandise.
Background
It has been estimated that over 160,000 children skip school each day due to the fear of being bullied. From this statistic alone, it is clear that bullying ruins lives. Founded by Ted and Karen Drier in 1998, the Children's Kindness Network is a non-profit organization that is focused on resolving this issue. It attempts to do so by stopping bullying before it begins by teaching kindness values to young children. No longer will bullying be "just a part of growing up" and no longer will its lasting effects be seen in marriages, parenting, and the workplace. Instead, this infamous "coming of age" experience will be replaced by messages of kindness and an understanding of empathy and compassion.
However, as many have previously wondered, how exactly did this chapter of the Children's Kindness Network get started? Well, after growing up on a dairy farm in Kansas, one of the creators, Ted, found himself in his late 50's oddly determined to see if he could build a cow himself. Remarkably, after puttering around in the garage for a few years, Ted's dream became a reality and a talking robotic cow was officially born!
The word about Ted's new robotic cow quickly got around and soon enough, a school in Texas by the name of Head Start had heard about it as well. Since the students were currently learning about farming, they had asked Ted if he would bring the cow to the school. Ted went and decided to create a kinesthetic learning experience- he combined the visual and auditory aspects of the robotic cow with the following message: "Spreading the milk of human kindness." Group after group, the children were glued to the cow, and just like that, Moozie the Cow became a fundamental figure in a child's life.
Impact
Now serving as the ambassador of the Children's Kindness Network, Moozie the Cow has proven herself to be successful with children ages 2-8 years old since its inception. Through various mediums such as music, literature, live presentations (with the robotic cow present!), a kindness essay contest, and kindness materials and curriculum that can be used in a classroom setting, children have not only listened to Moozie's messages of kindness, but they've started embodying them as well. In fact, teachers have reported hearing students talking about Moozie on the playground by saying statements such as "Moozie wouldn't want you to do that" if an unkind action was being performed. These statements even extended to parents as one mother shared her daughter telling her "Mommy, Moozie wouldn't like you to talk that way" after she had said a few bad words when caught in traffic.
Based on these anecdotes, young children have fully embraced Moozie (to the point of calling her a friend) and as a result, they have become aware of the kind and unkind behavior by adhering to her messages of kindness. In fact, the following two statistics clearly demonstrate Moozie's impact:
1. Over 400,000 children have been reached through Moozie's messages of kindness.
2. Research has shown that as the result of the use of the Moozie kindness curriculum in the classroom, educators spent 20% less time than usual on dealing with disruptive behaviors.
Needs
1. Secure adequate funding to make it possible to pay a full-time employee who would be reaching out to Pre-K schools, fundraising, and grant writing.
2. Obtain 40-50 volunteers who would help to distribute educational materials to schools and other agencies that reach children.
3. More volunteers to read to and with children to convey and inspire Moozie's lessons of kindness and generate an interest and commitment to literacy.
4. Design and implement a marketing plan that would increase the awareness of the Children's Kindness Network and Moozie.
CEO Statement
2022 marked a paradigm shift in the breadth and magnitude of the scope of Moozie's impact. Additional school districts are embracing the Moozie books and resources. A large quantity of the Operation Moozie backpacks for young children of active duty military families have been shipped to Germany for troops that are supporting NATO and its initiatives. A new strategic plan has been developed to expand the visibility and coverage with Moozie Days at schools, Take Moozie Home for the Weekend programs, an annual Moozie Essay Contest with other contests to be added to inspire and reward children. Moozie is on the move.
A collaboration between Children's Kindness Network and the BrainHealth Center at the University of Texas at Dallas resulted in the article Parenting With a Kind Mind: Exploring Kindness as a Potentiator for Enhanced Brain Health which was published in Frontiers in Psychology on March 24, 2022 (https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.805748/full) and the article was also featured in Neuroscience News (https://neurosciencenews.com/kindness-brain-health-20360/).
Board Chair Statement
2023 was a great success story for CKN. We participated and exhibited at conferences and conventions with Southern Early Childhood Association, Kiwanis International, Tennessee Association for Children's Early Education, Tennessee Governor's Early Literacy Foundation's annual convening of Statewide Early Literacy Education Collaborative in Tennessee, and Tennessee Association of School Librarians. Through those ventures we have distributed resource materials to 1,000 early childhood professionals, schools, before and after school programs, and others. We identified hundreds of Moozie and CKN advisors, ambassadors, volunteers and youth ambassadors.
An enhanced website moozie.org went live in August 2023 with an abundance of new resources for parents and educators, and many of the books, stories and resources have been translated to 132 languages to be provided for free upon request.
Moozie has appeared at early childhood centers, elementary schools, libraries, nonprofit fundraising and service events, camps, and children's parties.
Service Categories |
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| Primary Category: | Youth Development - Youth Development Programs |
| Secondary Category: | Education - Preschools |
| Tertiary Category: | Education - Primary & Elementary Schools |
Areas Served
Though our organization is based in Franklin, Tennessee, and focuses on serving communities within The Volunteer State, we are proud to say that we are an extremely digitized organization and that all of our resources can be used in any location by simply visiting our website at www.moozie.org!
While Moozie books and resources are used in many cities across the country, our new website makes Moozie available to children throughout the country and internationally to spread kindness globally.
| TN - Davidson |
| TN - Williamson |
| TN - Bedford |
| TN - Cannon |
| TN - Cheatham |
| TN - Clay |
| TN - Coffee |
| TN - Cumberland |
| TN - DeKalb |
| TN - Dickson |
| TN - Fentress |
| TN - Franklin |
| TN - Giles |
| TN - Hickman |
| TN - Houston |
| TN - Humphreys |
| TN - Jackson |
| TN - Lawrence |
| TN - Lewis |
| TN - Lincoln |
| TN - Macon |
| TN - Marshall |
| TN - Maury |
| TN - Montgomery |
| TN - Moore |
| TN - Overton |
| TN - Perry |
| TN - Pickett |
| TN - Putnam |
| TN - Robertson |
| TN - Rutherford |
| TN - Smith |
| TN - Stewart |
| TN - Sumner |
| TN - Trousdale |
| TN - Van Buren |
| TN - Warren |
| TN - Wayne |
| TN - White |
| TN - Wilson |
