Kindness Cards
Kindness Cards with Love Lives Here & Civic Engagement Alliance
Local nonprofit organizations Civic Engagement Alliance and Love Lives Here CDA are co-organizing a volunteer activity to foster positive community connections: Kindness Cards. Kindness Cards are a way to show appreciation and caring for our valued community members who have been most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, including healthcare workers, frontline employees, emergency responders, hospice staff, and our elderly. During this time of uncertainty and stress, we are bringing people together by spreading kindness and connection through personalized, handwritten cards.

The Kindness Cards Project was designed to be collaborative with community partners. We coordinated with 30+ card recipient organizations, included amazing sponsors, and signed up over 125 groups or individuals including classrooms & households from across the North Idaho region and beyond to ensure that Kindness Cards are made and received across our community. Volunteers pledged to write over 3,500 cards!
Kindness Cards Kits with materials and instructions were assembled on January 20th, 2020, and were distributed to volunteers at their doorsteps, by mail, or picked up at the Human Rights Education Institute. This was a complex endeavor that helped provide a meaningful, safe volunteer activity during COVID-19.
To help spread the word about the project, the Coeur d’Alene Press covered the project in their article “It’s in the Cards”.
Card Recipient Organizations
List of community organizations that house, serve, or employ people volunteers wrote Kindness Cards for:
Healthcare:
Hospice of North Idaho Staff | Kootenai Health – Housekeeping, Food Service & Behavioral Health Unit Staff | Heritage Health Staff | Active Family Healthcare Staff
First Responders & Government Agencies:
Coeur d’Alene Fire Department Staff | Kootenai Fire & Rescue | Idaho District 1 Probation & Parole Office Staff | Kootenai County Mental Health Court Staff & Participants | Post Falls Police Department Staff & Volunteers | Kootenai County Public Defender’s Office Staff | Coeur d’Alene Police Department | Coeur d’Alene Branch USPS
Restaurants, Hospitality, and Grocery:
Post Falls Yoke’s Grocery Store | Red Robin at Riverstone Staff | | Coeur d’Alene Resort Staff (Housekeeping, Laundry, Landscaping, Janitorial) | Fire Pizza Staff | Calypsos Coffee Roasters | Coeur d’Alene Holiday Inn Housekeeping Staff
Nonprofit/Charitable Organizations:
St. Vincent De Paul of North Idaho Staff | Kootenai Recovery Community Center Clients | Children’s Village Staff | Safe Passage Violence Prevention Center Staff & Clients
Seniors:
Guardian Angel Homes of Post Falls Residents | Orchard Ridge Independent Senior Living, The Grove & Memory Care Residents & Staff | The Lodge Assisted Living Residents | Garden Plaza of Post Falls Independent & Assisted Living Residents | The Rennaissance at CDA Residents
Education:
Coeur d’Alene Public Elementary Schools Staff
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS & DONORS WHO HELPED MAKE KINDNESS CARDS POSSIBLE!
We want to say THANK YOU to everyone who donated to help with materials. We also would like to highlight our sponsors who helped make this project to spread kindness, connection, and gratitude possible.
KINDNESS CARDS LEAD SPONSORS:
Emily Dishman & Carolyn Joslin, Real Estate Agents with Accel Realty Partners | Love Lives Here CDA | Ednetics | Hagadone Corporation
KINDNESS CARDS PROMOTER SPONSORS:
Fixed Focus Media | Radiant Health | Human Rights Education Institute
We appreciate all the support from the community. Small-dollar donations for Kindness Cards can be made at:
https://www.civicengagecda.com/donate or https://lovelivesherecda.com/donate
Our original goal was to send 1500 Kindness Cards throughout the community. Volunteers signed up in force and we more than doubled our expectation at 3500 cards! Volunteers, households, service groups, and classrooms were able to do the project in the safety and of their own spaces and on their own schedule. This was a FREE activity to participate in for volunteers. Our valued sponsors and donors helped us raise the funds needed for this activity
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Volunteers pledged to write 10, 25, or 50 cards.
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Volunteers chose to order pre-designed cards that they customized by coloring in with crayons, colored pencils, or markers or chose blank cards to completely design themselves!
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Volunteers return the cards either mailing them back or at a drop-off location in Coeur d’Alene:
DROPPING OFF CARDS:
The drop off deadline is Monday, February 11th. Cards are dropped off in your large craft paper envelope and placed in drop boxes located at:
- Active Family Healthcare | 919 W Canfield Ave, Coeur d’Alene, ID 83815
- Calypsos Coffee | 116 E Lakeside Ave, Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814
- Human Rights Education Institute | 414 W Fort Grounds Dr. Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814
MAILING CARDS BACK:
The deadline for mailing cards is Friday, February 8th. Cards are returned in a large craft paper envelope and then repackaged in another envelope or box for shipping.
Mail the cards to:
Human Rights Education Institute
℅ CEA & LLH – Kindness Cards
414 W Fort Grounds Dr
Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814
VOLUNTEER RECOGNITION & SPREADING KINDNESS ONLINE:
Volunteers are encouraged to take at least one photo of their work and email it to civicengagementalliance@gmail.com and lovelivesherecda@gmail.com
This is for two reasons:
- We want to highlight your work!
- We need to know that you completed the work.
For those who are on social media, share photos or videos on Facebook, Instagram, or even Tik Tok! Inspire others with your action and help spread kindness. Get creative! Tag @civicengagementalliance and @lovelivesherecda use #KindnessCards or #KindnessTogether
THE AMAZING VOLUNTEERS WHO WROTE CARDS!
VOLUNTEER & PROJECT MATERIALS
Feel free to download any of these materials for use during the Kindness Cards Project. If you are from another community and wish to emulate this project, please feel free to reach out to us at civicengagementalliance@gmail.com.
KINDNESS CARDS PARTNER OUTREACH LETTER
SPECIAL VOLUNTEER SHOUT OUTS:
Lezlee Ware – Postcard Artist lezleeware.com
Ali Orjala – Postcard Artist fixedfocusmedia.com
CDAIDE – Connecting Partner cdaide.org
Teachers of Lakes Middle School
Amber Tyler VIP- Empowerment Group For Women
Human Rights Education Institute
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Jessica Mahuron – Project Coordinator | Ali Orjala – Project Coordinator
Donna Brundage | Sarah Swanby | Vickie Locken
Florine Dooley | Nash Mahuron | Shawn Keenan | Lezlee Ware
