Our Uncommon Kids Club initiative is possibly our favourite part of the company and a cause very close to our hearts. Sometimes through the eyes of a child, the world can seem like endless stream of boxes to tick, and not every child knows how to tick them. As a society we want kids to learn, but don’t often teach them the most important skill of all – learning about themselves. Through Uncommon Kids, we help children create their own boxes, discover what is unique about them and begin to pave their own path in the world.
The Uncommon Kids Initiative has a few core parts:
The Uncommon Kids Initiative has a few core parts:
- Tilly Loves Tools © is a children’s book written, illustrated and published by our very own Chief Soul Officer Shannon, as the first release in the Uncommon Kids book series. It tells the story of Tilly, a young girl who learns with her hands. Tilly doesn’t quite fit in at school – she has a hard time sitting still, she loves to move and she has a real knack for building things. Just when she’s about to give up on school life, she meets a wise owl friend who helps her to see that differences make us interesting – and that learning about ourselves and each other makes us stronger. Tilly Loves Tools introduces a new genre of children’s book, combining story telling with colouring in and self-reflective activities that guide children through learning about themselves and their unique gifts. Every client of ours that has children receives a copy of Tilly Loves Tools for free. Countless hours and dollars have been put into the planning, design and execution of this project, and we are extremely proud to be able to use Tilly’s story to help spread our message throughout our community. The second instalment in the Uncommon Kids book series is already in the works – “Darcy Loves Dance” © and will be released in 2023.
- The Smith Family sponsorship – The Smith Family is an independent non-partisan children’s charity helping disadvantaged Australian children to get the most out of their education, so they can create better futures for themselves. As part of Uncommon Kids, we sponsor one Smith Family child for every ute we have on the road. How can we expect our children to embrace learning when many Australian kids don’t have the basic support they need to access education? The reality is that school is not always a psychologically safe place for many kids, but the Smith Family works to provide not only vital physical resources, but also moral support and encouragement to give these kids a better chance for the future. We are very proud to call ourselves Smith Family sponsors and will continue to grow our commitment as we grow our company.
- Uncommon Kids Colouring – as part of our ongoing communication with our Uncommon Kids families, we commissioned a custom set of 20 colouring in pages, hand drawn by a local sketch artist. Each page contains a different message or inspirational quote, directing kids to learn about themselves and recognise what they have to offer the world. We deliver these drawings to our families four times per year, just in time for each lot of school holidays.
We are really just getting started with Uncommon Kids and as far as we’re concerned, the sky is the limit. We have a lot more in the works and are keeping our plans under wraps for the time being. The amount of time, effort and money we have dedicated to Uncommon Kids has been well and truly worth it. If one child changes their thinking, learns something about themselves, or takes a step in a different direction because of Uncommon Kids, we will have done our job.
