VANCOUVER, Wash. — It can be tough being a kid right now, just ask 8-year-old Keoni Ching.
“It feels like years. It feels like it’s been like five million years and I’m five million and 8 years old,” he said.
Keoni misses his routine, his friends, and teachers at Franklin Elementary in Vancouver. It’s a place where this young man has already made his mark.
Back in January, before schools were closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Keoni took the school’s “kindness week” to heart. He raised more than $4,000 to pay off his school’s lunch debt.
He did it by selling keychains with an important message: be kind.
Now, with he and his school chums stuck at home, he’s stepping up to spread that compassion again. He and his little brother Kaleo are creating 500 do-it-yourself keychain kits to donate to local kids.
“Kids like to enjoy fun activities and playing and we’re not really doing that at all,” Keoni said.
So, he’s donating hundreds of his DIY kits to Piccolo Mondo Toys and its mission to bring free activity bags to area children.
“The project for the schools has been amazing,” Owner of Piccolo Mondo Toys Michelle Smith said.
Since April, they’ve delivered more than 1,000 bags filled with activity books, games, and some fun surprise toys to Title One schools in Hillsboro and Beaverton.
“It’s making me so happy! In a time where it’s really stressful to own a small business this makes me happy. I feel like we’re spreading the love,” Smith said.
Because of the community - local donors, their vendors, and, of course, kids like Keoni - Smith says they’ve been able to help even more schools since.
“I just think it’s amazing. And it’s about being able to say yes,” she said.
As for Keoni, he just wants people to follow the message strung together by the beads of his keychains: be kind.
To donate an activity bag visit piccolomondotoys.com.