About Us
Our Beginning
A Heart for Kids began in September of 2017. We are currently serving children who attend Erskine, Valley Grove, 10th Street, and Eastside Elementary schools.
Our time is spent helping with reading/comprehension and one-on-one tutoring. We also provide a healthy snack, and teaching the children about God’s love and plan for their lives.
Our desire is to provide support to children and their families as well as their teachers and school administration. We are grateful for the potential this program has in transforming a child’s life and giving them an opportunity for a better future.
A Heart for Kids Over the Years
In June of 2017, Val met with the Principal at Erskine Elementary. He shared that the children at Erskine would greatly benefit from a free tutoring/mentoring program provided in an after-school setting. Val immediately began pursuing an opportunity to establish a faith-based nonprofit organization called, “A Heart for Kids.” We opened that year with 30 volunteers and 3 college students serving 50 children.
In January of 2019, we extended our reach and opened a 2nd location serving children at 10th Street Elementary. Our program continued to grow and by March of 2020, we were blessed with a great team of 38 volunteers and 45 college students serving 80 children between both locations. However, that year ended early due to the Covid pandemic.
The 2021-22 school year was challenging and exciting! It was a year of rebuilding. Our focus and priorities included: recruiting volunteers, connecting with and hiring more college students, building new relationships with the teachers and staff as well as our new kids and families. In addition, we were able to hire a new Program Site Director for our 10th street location! This enabled us to move forward in preparing to expand our reach into the community with a 3rd location.
The 2022-23 school year was our best yet! In August, we were able to hire a Program Site Assistant to provide additional support and leadership at 2 of our locations. This new position allowed for our new Program Site Director to switch sites and lead a team in opening a 3rd location in October. We ended the year with a team of 53 volunteers, 65 college and 2 high school students serving as paid tutor/mentors and 3 part-time staff. Together, they served more than 100 children!
This was a year of challenges and blessings! We were blessed with the opportunity to open a 4th location in October!
Generous donations were received to purchase, Two-15 passenger vans that enabled us to provide transportation after school for our new Valley Grove students.
We had the largest team of volunteers and staff to date! 67 volunteers, 79 college students and 4-part-time support staff. Together, they served 118 children throughout the year.
Thank you!
We are grateful for God’s provision and for all the individuals, churches, businesses and organizations who support the mission of A Heart for Kids! If you have any questions or would like more information, please reach out to Val anytime at 765-425-1045 or val@aheartforkids.org.