The Why?

Hi, my name is Joni and I'm the creator and founder of Characters of Character NFP. My journey was always to be a mom first, couldn't wait as a little girl, it's all I ever wanted was to be a mom. I also wanted to be a nun, a teacher or a nurse. However, life has a funny way of taking you in so many different directions!

When I shared with my dad that I wanted to be a nun he was disappointed? Why? He wanted to be a grandpa! And when his first grandson was born, Joey, he wanted him to call him Joe, not grandpa, he was funny that way and when Joey could talk it was always grandpa!

Being a nurse was out of the picture, too. You need to be academically prepared and that was not for me! I'm pretty simple, basic and my brains doesn't do well with math and science but does really great with empathy, compassion and teaching and kids. A teacher, you needed much of the same and so I became a Teaching Assistant. My husband would say things like, "why don't you just become a teacher?" Me, because I get to go home when the bell rings! Plus, I was a mom first and teaching requires more hours than the bell schedule.

While I was a teaching assistant, I had an opportunity to pilot my characters in an elementary school in Illinois. We actually won a National Promising Practice Award through Character Education Partnerships in Washington D.C. and that got me thinking, I wonder if I could more for children than in the classroom. That's how I decided to form our nonprofit organization. What a journey!

At one point I dressed as Clifford the Big Red Dog in the school, I couldn't talk, only engage with the students. Looking out from the inside was so much fun, the smile on my face wouldn't take a break! Bringing our characters to life in costume was a wonderful accomplishment for me knowing that children would relate to the character and little did I know that they soon wanted to be like the character, act like the character and learn from the character.

And so, we published books, lots of books! We began hosting Mommy and Me painting classes at the libraries and park districts in our community. This was fulfilling for me and then the Pandemic hit. Like many others, we had to pivot and that is when we discovered such a need, and appreciation for our activity boxes. At first we donated activity packages to our local hospital and after seeing the impact that these had, we soon created our Superhero Character building activity boxes. One of the first locations we donated to was Shriner's in Chicago after a visit with our character Self-Esteem Elephant and after seeing the engagement and impact that one character had, we brought them all into the boxes!

I have learned a lot, grown a lot and continue to live my purpose with the characters. Why? Because using my Ph.d., my Passion, my Heart and my Determination I will continue to make a difference in the life of a child. While a small nonprofit requires all of these to continue to grow, we are now in our 19th year and every struggle reminds us that there is a child who needs us, and so, much like our character Do'er Duck, we keep on keepin on!

Our blog with Healthy Hippo and healthy habits here.

Our blog on the Power of Friendship here.

We hope you'll visit our website and consider supporting our organization and together, we will make a difference in the life of a child.

Miss Joni and Team Characters