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volunteering

Jun 09

Empathy in Action: Why Volunteering with Kids Today Shapes a Better Tomorrow

By Feature

By: Brandy Jemczura, Founder and Executive Director of Seeds of Caring

Research abounds on the benefits of volunteering, but what role does this play in childhood development? In a world grappling with rising youth mental health concerns, declining empathy, and social disconnection, giving kids the chance to serve their communities may be one of the most powerful—and overlooked—tools we have. Volunteering helps children build emotional resilience, understand different life experiences, and feel connected to something bigger than themselves. And it doesn’t just benefit the kids. It builds stronger families, more compassionate communities, and a generation better prepared to lead with empathy and intention.

At Seeds of Caring, we imagine a future with more empathy, something that research shows is under threat in today’s culture. According to a study in the Personality and Social Psychology Review, empathy among college students has dropped significantly since the 1980s, with the steepest decline in recent years. And yet, empathy is the foundation for kindness, collaboration, and strong communities.

But there’s good news: empathy can be taught as young as age 2—and volunteering is one of the most powerful ways to do it.

Why Should Kids Volunteer?

Volunteering isn’t just something kids should do—it’s something that actively benefits them. A study from UTHealth Houston found that children who volunteer are 18-35% less likely to experience anxiety or depression. Additionally, research from the National Institute on Out-of-School Time shows that 76% of children who volunteer feel happier and more connected than their peers.

Beyond mental health, volunteering boosts self-efficacy, improves academic outcomes, and builds critical social-emotional skills such as social awareness. When kids are given the chance to take action in their communities, they begin to see themselves as capable problem-solvers and powerful changemakers.

Kids Volunteering Today = Thriving Adults Tomorrow

Did you know there is a strong case for the long-term impacts of youth volunteering? A longitudinal study published in the American Journal of Public Health found that children who developed strong prosocial skills early in life were more likely to become healthy, resilient, civic-minded adults. They were less likely to struggle with substance abuse or mental illness and more likely to succeed in school and the workplace.

When we think of workforce development in today’s job market, soft skills like teamwork, communication, and empathy are in high demand—but only 11% of business leaders believe new graduates possess the soft skills they need. That’s a gap we can close if we begin building these skills intentionally through service and volunteering from a young age.

When Families Serve Together

The benefits of youth service don’t stop with the kids. When families volunteer together, they create a shared culture of caring and a strong sense of mutual responsibility. Service becomes a family tradition. It opens the door to conversations about poverty, racism, and inequality—topics that can be hard to broach, but are essential to raising informed and empathetic children.

At Seeds of Caring, we often hear from parents who say that engaging in service helped normalize difficult conversations at home. When a child learns about someone experiencing homelessness through our partner Horizon House, or helps prepare a meal for families working hard to make ends meet through Midwest Food Bank, they start asking big, bold questions. And through these conversations, parents are able to nurture values that last a lifetime.

A study from the Corporation for National and Community Service backs this up: kids who volunteer regularly are 50% more likely to be engaged in their communities as adults. That’s the kind of legacy families can create together.

A Stronger, More Connected Community

There is one final benefit to youth volunteering that we haven’t discussed yet—it strengthens our community in tangible ways. Programs that build empathy and social-emotional skills during childhood offer an estimated $11 return for every $1 invested, thanks to the positive social, economic, and health outcomes they produce (Columbia University).

In 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General issued a rare public health advisory declaring social isolation and loneliness a national epidemic. He warned that the disconnection so many Americans are experiencing—especially our youth—has profound effects on mental and physical health, rivaling the impact of smoking and obesity. But along with issuing this warning, he identified three powerful remedies to combat this epidemic: service, love, and purpose. When children engage in meaningful service, they practice all of these and they feel connected, valued, and empowered to make a difference. Volunteering helps kids see that they have a role to play in making their community a better place and that purpose is something they can live out right now, by showing up for others.

Finally, youth volunteers bring something special to the table: fresh perspectives, boundless energy, and a deep desire to make the world a better place. Whether they’re cleaning up a local park through Keep Indianapolis Beautiful or preparing care kits for guests at Westminster Neighborhood Services, these young changemakers are already shaping the future of our city.

How Seeds of Caring Is Making It Easy

At Seeds of Caring, we’re proud to work alongside more than 30 incredible non-profit partners to ensure that kids ages 2-12 in Greater Indianapolis can engage in meaningful, age-appropriate service.

Our model pairs hands-on action with learning and reflection, because we know that kids don’t just need something to do—they need space to talk about what they’re learning and how it makes them feel. Every project is thoughtfully designed with empathy-building at its core.

Whether you’re a parent, educator, scout leader, or community member, there’s a way to get involved. Through public events, school programs, and even at-home opportunities, Seeds of Caring provides the tools and support to make service part of kids’ everyday lives.

Let’s Raise the Next Generation of Changemakers

Want to know how Seeds of Caring is changing our world for the better? Just ask the kids.

We recently invited a group of young volunteers to imagine what the world would look like if every child learned to empathize and volunteer in their community. Their answers?

  • “There would be less hatred and more kindness.”
  • “Everybody would be equal.”
  • “We would be one big community.”
  • And this one that gives me goosebumps every time: “More people would do what is right, not what is easy.”

So let’s imagine an Indianapolis where every child knows their voice matters. Let’s raise a generation that looks beyond themselves, recognizes the power they hold to strengthen their communities, and leads with compassion.

Get Involved

If you live in the Greater Indianapolis area visit seedsofcaring.org to explore upcoming service opportunities, register your child for a program, or partner with us to bring empathy-building experiences to your school or organization.

Dr. Jane Goodall once said, “You aren’t going to save the world on your own. But you might inspire a generation of kids to save it for all of us. You would be amazed at what inspired children can do.” Together, we can raise a generation that’s not only ready for the future—but ready to change it for the better. Join us!

Dec 12

Bouquets make a difference

By Feature, Programming

By Lynn Sygiel, editor, Charitable Advisors

At Random Acts of Flowers (RAF), recipients of the arrangements are touched and surprised.

“The calls we get from these recipients, they just make you weep because you know what that arrangement looked like. You know it was not a big extravagant bouquet, it was a tiny little happy, made-with-love arrangement to a stranger,” said Alison Kothe, Indianapolis’ RAF executive director

One Eskenazi Hospital patient called the week after a delivery and left a voicemail saying, “‘They’re making me go to this rehab place way out on 38th Street, but they cannot make me not take my flowers. They may kick me out, but I’m taking my flowers.’ It was so cute, and it was wonderful to think that a week after we made the delivery, her flowers were still well enough to go to the rehab place,” said Kothe.

Volunteers have a similar reaction. Recently two Indianapolis-based Avant Healthcare employees were involved in a corporate team-building activity.

Their experiences were similar.

“By the end of the day, after you’ve sorted through all that has come in, it’s beautiful to see all the “new” flowers put together that are ready for bouquet arrangements. It was so much fun volunteering at RAF,” said Abby Flick, an Avant Healthcare employee.

“What an amazing organization. I love the idea of brightening up the day of someone in need with beautiful flowers,” said her colleague, Jamie Burns.

How does Random Acts of Flowers choose its cities?

Founder Larsen Jay said there are four things they look when selecting cities.

  • Is it a place where a lot of events are held? Galas?
  • Is there access to health care facilities?
  • Is the community known for philanthropy and volunteers?
  • Is there potential for long-term sustainability?

Each new branch gets help from the national organization to set the course. With an eight-year track record, Kothe said they know what works and doesn’t. work. Each potential local site has to present a plan to the national board for approval.

“They know what doesn’t work. They’ve been very helpful steering us away from doing things that people suggest that they know are just not going to fly,” Kothe said.

Marketing materials are provided for each local site from the national office, helping provide a consistent look from bureau to bureau.

According to RAF, each arrangement costs $17, which includes overhead costs. Indianapolis raised $100,000 from donors before it opened its doors. Start-up costs vary from city to city, and depend on a lot of factors, including real estate. In the first year, Indianapolis gets $50,000 each quarter from the national organization to help ensure the branch’s success.

Locally, one way each bureau raises income is through sponsorship cards., the cost of which can be underwritten by companies and organizations. Each bouquet is delivered with a card that includes the volunteer who made the arrangement and the source of the flowers.

Kothe has a wish list for the organization:

  • An individual with clout with Roudebush Veteran Affairs Medical Center, so that RAF can begin to deliver arrangements to the veterans.
  • Community groups willing to donate vases. Must be between 4 and 9 inches tall.
  • Six corporate sponsors for delivery cards for the six months remaining in RAF’s fiscal year.
    Cost: $1,000 per sponsor for 1,000 cards
  • A sponsor to underwrite the annual cost of “gas money” for the RAF van. Cost: $3,000 annually
  • An individual or sponsors to underwrite the cost of the composting effort.Cost: $5,000 annually
  • A sponsor for RAF’s volunteer appreciation event.Cost: $1,500

If you are interested in contributing, visit http://indianapolis.randomactsofflowers.org or email Alison Kothe at alison@rafindianapolis.org

Dec 12

The healing power of flowers

By Feature, Programming

By Lynn Sygiel, editor, Charitable Advisors

Over the ages, flowers have taken on symbolic meanings. Ancient Greeks, Romans, Egyptians and Chinese refer to the use of flowers in their stories and myths. The Greeks considered flowers to be of particularly high importance and associated them with the gods.

But the language of flowers, floriography, can convey simple and complex messages. Random Acts of Flowers (RAF), a nonprofit started in 2008 in Knoxville, Tenn., uses flowers as part of its simple mission: improve the emotional health and well being of individuals in health care facilities by surprising residents with recycled flowers, encouragement and personal moments of kindness.

The Indianapolis bureau, the organization’s most recent, opened in October. Renting space on East 54th Street on the city’s Northside, its purple storefront is an eye catcher. The response has been unbelievable, according to Alison Kothe, Indianapolis’ executive director. Kothe was hired in June to launch the operation, and since then, has focused on the joy of giving flowers.

[content_box box_type=”normal”]Locally, weekly flower donations come from McNamara, Kennicott Brothers Wholesale, Marvin’s Wholesale, FTD/Proflowers, Fresh Market, Flanner & Buchanan, Crown Hill Funeral Home & Cemetery, Royal Creations, Conkle Funeral Home, Leppert Mortuary, Laurel Hall, Posh Petals, JW Marriott, Lilly Lane Flowers and George Thomas Florist.[/content_box]

While she admits the logistics are complicated with a lot of moving parts, the idea of delivering flowers to people in need is not. “I call it a deceptively simple concept,” she said.

Living in Knoxville, Tenn., in 2007, RAF founder Larsen Jay landed in the hospital after a life-threatening accident. As a young filmmaker in his 30s, Jay didn’t typically receive flowers. But while recovering, he noticed how flowers sent from friends gave him a psychological boost. He also realized during his stay how many people on his hospital floor didn’t receive flowers and had few visitors.

So the next year, he founded Random Acts of Flowers, an attempt to make a difference for those in need. An RAF survey revealed that 81 percent of recipients surveyed had received no other flowers. Recent research also shows that flowers help reduce the length of hospital stays and lowers blood pressure.

RAF now has five branches – Knoxville, Tampa Bay (2013), Evanston, Ill., (2015), Menlo Park, Calif., (2015) and its newest in Indianapolis.

Why Indianapolis? Five years ago, Betty Stilwell, then chief philanthropy officer at IU Health, mentioned the organization to Kothe. Stilwell said she had been talking with Jay Hicks, president and CEO of Prime Care Properties and Management. After meeting RAF’s founder and joining its national board, he thought Indianapolis was ready to become involved.

“Hicks was really the mover and shaker behind the Random Acts of Flowers in Indianapolis,” Kothe said. Once the commitment was made, things moved quickly. The first seed-money house party was in March of this year, and the new 501(c)3 moved into its space in September and started deliveries the next month.

As of early December, over 1,245 arrangements had been delivered to area hospitals and nursing homes.

In July, Kothe and Lindsay Potter, RAF’s program manager, traveled to Knoxville for training. Immersed in the details of the operation, they had a series of hands-on trainings. And one thing they learned was to be cognizant of the differences between delivering to a hospital or a nursing home.

“One of the things that I thought was particularly impressive about the Knoxville ethos is that you cannot obviously deliver to entire hospitals in a single delivery, but nursing homes are different. It’s more of a community, and we want everybody to have an arrangement,” she said.

“Ideally, in the best of all worlds, all of our deliveries would go to people in need, but because of the nature of hospitals, we have no idea who’s going to be in what room,” she said. As the organization gets rooted, Kothe wants to work more closely with hospital personnel to identify patients who really need a boost.

Another group that’s on the priority list is the veterans hospital. In all RAF branches, Veterans Day has special significance. Locally, Roudebush Veteran Affairs Medical Center is not yet on board, but Kothe is hopeful that an influential community leader can help her expedite the approval.

“It’s a shame, but we’re plugging away with the local staff through the bureaucracy. Vets are by far the most appreciative — not only are they in the hospital for longer periods of time, but almost all of them are far away from family. If ever there is a constituency that could benefit from all elements of the effort — the color, the joy, the interaction with a person being kind — it is vets,” she said.

Volunteers make up the nonprofit’s workforce. So far, 130 volunteers are orientated and trained. Potter would like that number to be 250.

In its first year, the group plans deliveries twice a week of 50 to 75 arrangements. Its first crew of 10 volunteers had a production goal of 100 arrangements or 10 per volunteer. But no matter how enthusiastic the group, Kothe said, after seven arrangements, the enthusiasm wanes. What she and Potter don’t want is for the task to become drudgery.

After potential volunteers complete an application online, they attend an hour and a half on-site orientation and training session. With a small conference room, Potter likes to limit the group to seven, with a maximum of 10. Training sessions are offered on days when volunteers are arranging, so that each new volunteer can also get hands-on training. New sessions are planned this month and in January and are posted on RAF’s Facebook page.

“If people want to do arranging, then the first time they do an arrangement, we have them work with Emily, who’s our program coordinator, and comes from a floral background,” said Potter.

Corporations have also found value in volunteering. Avant Healthcare is one that recently took advantage. The company encourages employees to give back to the community. Besides annual volunteer hours, at the Indianapolis-based company, departments can take advantage of a team-building activity.

Pam Schiefelbein, director of strategic operations and training at Avant Healthcare, was part of the team that recently volunteered for RAF. “From the time we walked in the door, to the minute we left, we felt welcomed and appreciated. As we learned more about the nonprofit, we realized that our goals were identical — we each want to have a positive impact on the patient,” she said.

Recycling is key to the effort.

Vases, all donated, have some size requirements, but have come from a variety of sources. Recently, Second Presbyterian Church and Woodstock Country Club offered spare vases. Individuals, too, have shared their excess containers.

“We focus on a certain size. So for instance, a little bud vase cannot be used because it doesn’t create a beautiful arrangement. We cannot use a coffee cup either. If we’re making 100 deliveries, we’ve got to be economical in terms of the size of vase, so we can fit it into the cart,” said Kothe.

Flowers are donated, and picked up by the volunteers. Local donors include florists, funeral homes, grocery stores and event venues.

On Mondays, one of the volunteers heads to Richmond early in the day, where FTD/ProFlowers has its home office. The volunteer fills up the van with boxes and boxes of flowers, and not only brings those flowers back, but also picks up from local contributors.

While some volunteers come with many, many years of floral experience, it is not mandatory. RAF has requirements about height and width and how many flowers for each arrangement, which isn’t necessarily universal in world of floral arranging said Potter.

What isn’t used is composted, with future hopes to generate income.

“Ultimately it would be nice to sell it because amazingly there are very few nurseries that do organic composting. They buy organic compost materials, but they don’t do it on their sites,” said Kothe.

While Potter has worked for other nonprofits, she believes that every week RAF lives up to its mission.

“Every week, we do what we say we’re going to do, and it’s easy to measure it. I’ve worked in places where you’re working hard, and you’re doing all these wonderful things, but you never know if you’re making the impact that you want to be making.”

Locally, RAF plans to further research the effect. Dr. Burke Mamlin, a board member, is a researcher at Regenstrief Institute in Indianapolis, and went on the first Eskenazi Hospital delivery.

“He had read the literature that a growing body of research indicates there is a real psychological benefit. He was so excited about just the visceral reaction that he saw among the patients, that he has taken it upon himself to take this research to the next level. He wants to try to determine what exactly is the biological phenomenon that occurs that creates shorter hospital stays, blood pressure lowering and recovery rates. That would be very exciting,” said Kothe.

Kothe said RAF is a no brainer.

“There’s no downside to it. It’s not political, it’s not religious, and it’s not anything but bursts of joy in people’s lives that have none. And then there’s the personal contact, the encouragement.”

Jun 09

Engaging a city, building a community

By Feature, Leadership

By Efrem Bycer for The Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee |

Indianapolis has the potential to become one of the most civically engaged cities in America. Currently, Indianapolis ranks 16th, placing it behind many of its peer metros, including Charlotte, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Nashville and St. Louis. To break into the top 10, Indianapolis may seek to apply successful practices in these cities.

This report aims to identify those replicable practices and provide recommendations for short-term and long-term strategies to improve volunteerism, especially among young professionals.

Young professionals, or Millennials, are a focus of this report because of the key role this generation plays in supplying talent to the region’s leading companies. The youngest generation of the workforce, Millennials are staying single longer and waiting until later in life to have children. On one hand, they have time early in their careers to get engaged in the community. On the other, they are an increasingly mobile generation able to move from one city to another

for professional opportunities or a change of pace. Civic engagement and volunteering play key roles in helping this generation develop an attachment to place, a key indicator of an individual’s likelihood to move. This makes volunteerism an important component of any comprehensive talent attraction and retention strategy.

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