Sara Stadem |Editor 

“We’re just four like-minded women that donated our own money to get this started. We all have a heart of caring and giving and we don’t want any recognition for it. We just want to help others in need,” said one of the anonymous founders of Characters of Kindness.

Characters of Kindness is a nonprofit 501 (c)(3) organization that was created in January 2020 that has a passion to help others within the community.

Some of the opportunities to assist those in need have been through food donations to families in need, providing clothing for children, paying a water bill and giving a financial donation for a family with a tragedy, explained one of the founders.

When asked how the process works, she explained it’s all pretty anonymous. “99% of the time, we don’t know who we are helping and the ones we are helping don’t know who we are either.”

She continued to explain Characters of Kindness reached out to West Central schools and West Central School assisted with their organization donating clothes to the children in need and the food for the families that were in extra need of some help.

Their contacts at schools provide them with the details as to what is needed for individuals leaving names out. Characters of Kindness delivers to the school, again, things remaining anonymous.

Sara Jost, West Central Middle School Administrative Assistant, is one of the contacts for Characters of Kindness. When asked what she thinks of the organization, she stated, “Our community is blessed with so many caring people! Characters of Kindness is a wonderful organization that is all about taking care of others. Being in the school environment, we run into situations where we know that a family needs help in some way – sometimes it’s something simple that we can help provide, but sometimes it’s something much bigger.” She continued, “It’s a great comfort to know that we can reach out to Characters of Kindness and they will help us take care of them!  As the saying goes “it takes a village”… I’m very happy to be part of this one!”

As for the water bill, the founder stated, “We contacted City Hall and asked if they knew of anyone needing extra help and they did. We asked how we could help anonymously. City Hall told us the amount of money that was needed, and we gave the check to the City Hall and they took care of it.”

Characters of Kindness did have the opportunity to call BINGO at Buffalo Ridge Brewing Project to help raise some additional funds for their nonprofit organization. There are no additional fundraisers set up at this time.

“All donations come from the heart if you chose to donate to Characters of Kindness, send your donations to PO BOX 31, Hartford, SD 57033. We will send a 501(c)(3) letter for tax purposes,” stated the anonymous founder. 

“We are doing this solely to help others in whatever way we can.” She continued, “We have a passion and a heart for our community.”

If you know of someone in need, feel free to reach out to Character4kind@gmail.com as every inquiry is considered.