The Kindness Matters Podcast
So. Much. Division. Let's talk about how to change that. Re-engage as neighbors, friends, co-workers and family. Let's set out to change the world. Strike that. Change A World. One person at a time, make someone's life a little better and then do it again tomorrow and the day after that, through kindness.
Kindness is a Super-Power that each of us has within us. It is so powerful it has the potential to change not only your life but those around you, too. Let's talk about kindness.
The Kindness Matters Podcast
Small Hands, Big Change: The Kindness Journey of Lisa Korbel and Her Kindness Crew
Ever wondered how small hands can spark big changes? Join us on the Kindness Matters podcast as we share the heartwarming journey of Lisa Korbel, the visionary behind "There's No Place Like Home Daycare" in Owatonna, Minnesota. Lisa, along with her adorable "Kindness Crew" of two to five-year-olds, has been nurturing the power of giving for almost a decade. Discover how a simple project of making fleece tie blankets for a local shelter bloomed into a beautiful tradition of community service, and learn how these young children are instilled with the values of kindness and empathy, leaving a lasting impact on their community.
We shine a light on how Lisa and her little helpers choose who to support, ensuring their acts of kindness reach far and wide. Through the stories of the "Kindness Crew," hear about the legacy of giving that continues even after their time with Lisa. We explore the essential services offered by Community Pathways and the commendable work of the Oak Hills Community Connections, which aims to provide shelter for entire families during tough times. The tales shared underscore the immense difference small communities can make when they come together in support of one another.
Uncover the often overlooked issue of hidden homelessness and the inspiring ways the Owatonna community has rallied together. Despite the hurdles of not having a 501(c)(3) status, hear about the creativity and determination that have led to substantial fundraising efforts, including a concert that raised, after expenses, $16,000. We draw attention to the impactful work of local organizations like Oak Hill's Community Connections, Furnishing Hope, and the Crisis Resource Center. Each story is a testament to the power of compassion and the ripple effects created when neighbors unite in kindness.
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Well, hello there and welcome. You are listening to the Kindness Matters podcast and I am your host, mike Rathbun. What is this podcast all about? It's about kindness. It's a pushback against everything negative that we see in the news and on social media today, and it's a way to highlight people, organizations that are simply striving to make their little corner of the world a little better place. If you want to join in on the conversation, feel free Go ahead and follow us on all of your social media feeds. We're on Facebook, instagram, tiktok. We're even on LinkedIn under Mike Rathbun. Check us out. Uh, we're even on linkedin under mike rathbun. Check us out and in the meantime, so sit back, relax, enjoy and we'll get into the kindness matters podcast.
Speaker 1:Hello and welcome everybody. Thank you so much for joining us today and I am so excited to have you here and I am excited for you to meet my guest. You know, when we think about kindness or big kindness operations, we don't often think of smaller cities, cities in rural spaces. You know, when you think of big honking kindness organizations are usually in big cities, right? But I heard this year last year, depending on when you hear this about an amazing organization in Owatonna, minnesota, and it's a daycare. It's a freaking daycare run by one of the most incredible human beings I have ever had the pleasure to meet. Her name is Lisa Korbel and I have her on with the show today. Welcome, lisa.
Speaker 2:Thanks, Mike. Thank you for having me welcome, lisa.
Speaker 1:Thanks, mike. Thank you for having me. Oh, this is so exciting. I have never seen somebody else and then reached out to them and had them on the show, so this is a first for me. I just have to have you. I know that your story is that good that, um, I wouldn't take no for an answer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's worth sharing. It's worth sharing.
Speaker 1:It absolutely is so the name of your group. That isn't the name of the daycare, though, right?
Speaker 2:No, my daycare is called. There's no Place Like Home Daycare and we call ourselves and the things we do for the community. We.
Speaker 1:We've given ourselves a name the kindness crew you are indeed, and and when we think of a crew, we don't think of necessarily two to five year olds. We don't, but that's what you guys are yep, they're the heart and the soul. That is so awesome, and this all started well. Actually, this year will be your 10th year doing this right Correct?
Speaker 2:Yep, this was our 10th giving season. We started back in 2015, so we had given for 10 seasons, but technically, 2025 is our 10th year. How do you?
Speaker 1:count that I know my wife and I have this big, huge thing about how to count down.
Speaker 2:Yes, in 2024,. It was the 10th time of doing something, but you know the seasons, I suppose.
Speaker 1:Exactly so. Your first, the first time that you decided to give, was that 2015?.
Speaker 2:That's correct Yep 2015.
Speaker 1:Yep, okay, and that changed everything for you.
Speaker 2:That changed, that set the story in motion.
Speaker 1:Nice, it did so. Talk to us about that, tell us about it.
Speaker 2:So back in 2015, you know the fleece tie blankets that are real popular, at least they were in the early 2000s we decided, yeah, people love them. Right, A warm, cozy blanket. It just does something for you. It makes you happy, it makes you feel warm, it makes you feel loved. You just wrap yourself in that and you feel that comfort.
Speaker 2:And we had been talking to the kids Myself had been talking to the kids about giving. We had just kind of finished with our gratitude and giving and we said let's do something for the community. And so we came up with the idea to make tie blankets. It was something simple we could do. The kids could some, some of them could help me cut. We were working on our tying, we got some fine motor skills in on there and you know some learning that went along with it.
Speaker 2:And then I contacted a local organization in the city of Owatonna that was called Lily Sparrow House and at that time Lily Sparrow House was our woman and children's shelter here in town and when I spoke with the director she had let me know that there was some families in there right now and the blankets we had was full of cars and blues and reds and we thought, oh, this may, a little boy maybe would like this. I don't think it really would have mattered, but we, that's where we thought. She said, yep, there's a little boy here at at the house right now. So we concluded for the day. I sent the kids home.
Speaker 2:I went to the home and I knocked on the door and I was met. I thought maybe it was going to be the director, but I was met with a resident by a resident, and so I explained to her again who I was, what we were doing, and the woman's eyes immediately filled with tears, which, of course, and the woman's eyes immediately filled with tears, which, of course, my eyes immediately filled with tears and she told me that she was currently living in the home and the blanket was going to be for her son and that we had this emotional exchange. That was absolutely incredible. And I walked down those stairs and I still get a little emotional about it today.
Speaker 1:I walked down those stairs. I'm getting emotional just listening to you tell it and I've get a little emotional about it today.
Speaker 2:I walked down those stairs and in my heart I knew right at that moment like we're going to do this. We're going to do this every single year, and I am not going to be the one that does it all. I want the kids to be with me every step of the way, and that's where it all changed. And now they are. They follow me through the entire process of giving.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's so cool. And I mean, you, you involved. Well, you, you do you involve them in every step of the process, right, yes?
Speaker 2:Yep, they're there we so, on World Kindness Day, we announced so, announced, so now that we've done this for 10 seasons and we've tried to hit. Oatan is a really cool community. We have about a population of about 28,000, but we have lots of services in town that help people in need and a lot of organizations that we have been able to give to, and so there's been fantastic opportunities for us to raise money, to collect items, to do things, and so they it starts out where I announce it, the kids and I kind of tell everybody. We take the social media, we start telling moms and dads and grandmas and grandpas, and then they start collecting money. But my families have taken it a step further, which has been really cool, and they have decided to do things like create things and sell things. So we've had everything from drawings to homemade Christmas trees to wreaths to hang on your door, cookies to hot chocolate, and the kids and their parents assemble these items and then sell them and give them, give up the kindness crew all the profit.
Speaker 1:Yeah done to support the kindness crew exactly, exactly so cool.
Speaker 2:so then we choose an end date. So we usually go about in exactly a month or so and then we I typically reach out to all the organizations letting them know hey, you've been chosen by the kindness crew. How can we best serve you this year? Do you need a monetary donation? Do you need some winter gear? Do you need hygiene supplies? What can we do that would most benefit you at this point in your organization? And so lots of times we'll say, hey, yeah, we could really use hats and mittens or deodorants. So the kids and I and their families will go to the local Walmart or the local Target and we'll have a shopping day. So I give everybody a list and we walk around.
Speaker 2:This year we filled two carts overflowing with blankets, soft, cuddly blankets. We had buckets full of deodorant and soap and razors and all kinds of stuff. The kids take it off the shelves, they put it on the counter and we pay together as a group. So they are really there for the whole entire experience. And then this past week we invite the organizations to come to my home, to the Kindness Crew home.
Speaker 2:Or we have also got a good in with the bus company of parents. That is a bus driver and has given us some rides, so we load up the bus and the moms and dads and everybody gets on the bus and we drive to these places and the kids get to see what this year we got to see. One of the places that we gave to is an organization that helps families coming out of homelessness or getting their first apartment and imagine how exciting that is. But now you don't have a couch or you don't have a table right and now you're together as a family and you want to sit down and have a meal together at a table, and so this organization people can donate. You know, we all get new furniture and we go what are we?
Speaker 2:going to do with this old table or this, and we think it's to us maybe no longer has worth, but could mean so much to another family. So they have a really cool warehouse where they store all this stuff and then they allow people to come in and at no cost they can outfit their entire home or apartment with beds and couches and tables and chairs, and so the kids got to see that and that's really really cool, really cool I, you never really even think about that, right.
Speaker 1:You think, okay, well, they were unhoused and then they were housed and and that's the end of the story, and you don't think about all of the little things that go into that right exactly right, wow.
Speaker 2:So yeah, they got to see.
Speaker 2:You know from the beginning, right, exactly, right, wow. So, yeah, they got to see, you know, from the beginning to the end, and it's so fun just to watch their little faces handing over a check or handing over. This year we filled buckets of things, of hats and mittens and stuff, and just for the kids to have that experience, I think, yeah, it's pretty incredible and I I guess my whole hope is that they don't forget that feeling, because there's there's something about giving that fills us too, that fills our hearts too, and I hope they never, ever, forget that feeling, because then they're going to want to keep doing it right, even when they leave this place. They're going to want to keep giving, keep helping this place. They're going to want to keep giving, keep helping, keep showing up keep extending themselves.
Speaker 1:So if you could, could you talk to me about what goes into the process of choosing the beneficiaries of your giving for a particular season?
Speaker 2:So we have our community, I would say, has our different things listed on a website.
Speaker 2:When you want to come to you know, the Chamber of Commerce has a list of our nonprofits. Our United Way has a list of nonprofits and I typically go on and say I just started kind of at the beginning years ago and said let's try and let's see how many we can hit over the next 10 years, you know, and how many we can hit. Sometimes we give more than to one community pathways. I would describe it's our food shelf, but it's kind of a hub in our community for a lot of different things. There's a lot of resources that people can get there. There's they have an area where you can get clothing, you can get your food, you can get your hygiene products. There is an entity in there that offers dental care to children. Transitional housing is an entity that is within the community pathways building where it allows people who are on the margins that need whether it's rent, assistance, whether they need to be housed, if they're escaping violence. It's a place where people can come and they can access all of those things at the same time.
Speaker 1:and get set up for successes.
Speaker 2:That would definitely be worth a second donation or a second? Yeah, so a lot of times we give them. You know they always kind of get added in. On this year we did a bunch of hats and mittens and some hygiene products, and so then they said that this is the time of the year those things are. You know, it's getting colder, people need those hats and those mittens, the weather's changing and so those are those things that they always are in need of.
Speaker 1:Oh for sure. And you talked about hoping that the kids kind of kept this feeling of giving with them as they grew up. When we were talking, you had a couple of instances where you've run into some kids that were part of the kindness crew with you.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, and they were lovely In fact yeah, I, I in fact, yeah, oh yeah, In fact, on Tuesday, when we did our delivery, we I welcome back anybody that's ever been part of a kind of the kindness crew, Cause you don't, your membership doesn't cease when you walk out the door, it continues forever. And, uh, I've invited families along. Hey, if invited families along, hey, if you want to come along for this delivery or whatever. In fact, those families did projects this year and raised money and handed me checks for a few hundred dollars. So it was pretty cool. I was delivering to a school. We were able to gift all the schools a bucket full of hats and mittens and scarves, every single school in our district and then the two districts that are the closest to us. And I walked in the hall and the little boy. All of a sudden I hear Lisa, Lisa. I'm looking around like well, who knows me? Oh, yep, it was a boy that he's a third grader now and he's like that was my daycare. That was Lisa, he's telling all his buddies.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I mean, I think they're remembering, I hope they're remembering.
Speaker 1:That's so cool. Well, clearly, they do. I mean that's got to be a huge part of their core memories. Now, when I was a kid, we were the kindness crew. Yes, yeah, we helped. That's so cool it is. It's so cool.
Speaker 2:It is, it's really cool.
Speaker 1:So talk to me about okay. Now you've also worked with homeless kids.
Speaker 2:Nope, nope, not me.
Speaker 1:Oak Hills Community Center. That is, we were talking about that.
Speaker 2:Yep, oak Hills is. It has not come yet to Owatonna. It is in the works. Sorry, yep, Oak Hills is. It has not come yet to Owatonna. It is in the works. Sorry, yep, that's okay, it will be. You know, I don't know what their target date for opening is.
Speaker 2:I serve on a board called Transitional Housing here in Owatonna and we will probably be doing a lot of work with them. Work with them, oak Hills Community Connections is trying to fill a gap in our communities not just our community, but other communities as well and that is placement for families. We find that there are women in children's shelters, we find that there are shelters serving men, but there are not shelters serving men with children or families, and so their goal is to have a facility that would be able to accommodate entire families that want to stay together, want to be together, want to live together. Of course, that's where you want to be is with your family, and so that is their hope that we will have a facility that would be able to accommodate quite a few families. So it'd be wonderful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that would be amazing. Why do you suppose it is that they there's one for men and there's one for women and children, but no mix.
Speaker 2:Well, and I think you know, I think women and children kids are often and stay with mom. Yeah, that ends up being the thing. Our men's shelter is often utilized by men coming out of hardships, rehab, you know where. Maybe it's not as safe as an environment for children to be in and I don't know. I think things are changing. You know we, you know we're trying to, you know, make room for families and hardships are changing. It's, it's been tough, like the last few years have been hard, and there are so many people that are one week of being sick, away from not being able to pay their rent or, you know, it doesn't take much nowadays to end up on those margins.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's such a need. And you know, when you were talking about all these organizations just there in Owatonna, I'm like you wouldn't think that Owatonna had a need for all of those organizations. But there is right, unfortunately. I mean, you'd love to be able to say this.
Speaker 2:Right, the board for transitional housing in here in town. I was not aware of the situation of homelessness in Noatana because it's not a visible thing, right, it's not. I went. I remember as a kid going out to San Francisco with my family and seeing people on the streets, right, and I think we have this idea in our head that homelessness means living on the street and homelessness does not. It is not defined by living on the street and homelessness does not. It is not defined by living on the street. It's couch hopping, it's living in your car, it's moving from friend to friend's house. It's just it's finding temporary, something temporary and then moving on to the next. It's not necessarily just living on the streets, and I was shocked when I found out that there were 120 some odd children in our school district that were considered homeless, isn't that like a lot.
Speaker 2:so I think, well, okay, if it's, that's if it's here and we're not necessarily visibly seeing, it's probably lots of other places too, not just in our own community. But I've found we've lived in owatonna for approximately 21 years now and people show up here in just an absolutely incredible ways, from giving to helping these organizations. We just had a concert event that was given by some local musicians incredible musicians and they raised money for Oak Hills Community Connections and for transitional housing community connections and for transitional housing In the course of two days they raised $30,000.
Speaker 2:Whoa that's huge, it's giant, and so it's just it's people show up, people care.
Speaker 1:People are kind, yeah, absolutely, and I that's kind of. Why I wanted to do is because we don't always see those people, right? No, when we watch the news, we look at our social media feeds or whatever. You can watch Mr Beast, or whatever, I don't know if that's his name.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I have teenagers. I think it's Mr Beast.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right, yeah, so you would know, and that's fine and well, but we don't see the heroes that are out there every day working to make their part of the world a little better place People like you.
Speaker 2:There's so many of them, and there are.
Speaker 1:but you know what you would never know that People are humble. But you know what you would never know that people are humble yeah no, you're right and that's a oh boy. That's a whole other discussion, I think, because it's fine to be humble, but when you're, I don't know, I don't know, I have no answers. I'm not required to have answers. I ask the questions, dang it um, I you're, you're amazing and this organization is amazing. So have you got any big plans for your 10-year anniversary this year?
Speaker 2:I don't, not yet, but of course I've been thinking coming up. You know, my, my kids would tell me when I asked you know we always set a goal right we said, okay, how many, how many dollars do we want to set this year? And you know, like the kids are like 60,000 and I'm like, oh you know, I would love that, but we're just a daycare raising money. We don't have a 501c.
Speaker 1:We're not that caliber, are you limited Right Without that 501c3, are you limited to how much you can raise?
Speaker 2:You know that's a great question. I have no overhead so I don't. You know, I don't get. We give everything that we get. So basically all I am is the exchange. Hand it to me and I hand it back.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but you got close this year.
Speaker 2:We got talked about that. The kids raised $6,020 and 24 cents. We hit that 6,000 like at about 8 30 PM and I got a message and someone said I want to give. Tell me how much I need to give to get you to 6,000. Cause I saw you were close and I said we were already over 6,000. They're like I'm going to give $20 and 24 cents because it's the year of 2024. Yes, I love that. I'm like that's a perfect ending. You can't. You can't get much better than that.
Speaker 1:Two and five-year-olds raise $6,000, y'all, I don't want to hear any excuses.
Speaker 2:No, none. I mean they are People say things like oh my gosh, how did you do that? It's not me, it's them. I'm the behind the scenes. They don't have a Facebook account, so they can't go on and tell everybody what they're doing that is some good networking right there.
Speaker 1:Those kids are set up for the future.
Speaker 2:I hope so I do.
Speaker 1:Oh, my gosh so you're done for 2024 yep. And did we talk about which organizations you? We talked about one of them, I think.
Speaker 2:We talked about yep, so we gave to Oak Hill's community Right Yep Connections that and we just we were able to give them some, some money, just to kind of help them with their capital campaign. Capital campaign we gave money to, uh, what's called furnishing hope, which is run by our kef charities here in town, and they're the ones that have the furniture that are helping people out. The money is going to help them pay for their warehouse. They've got, they've, they've gotten a truck now so they can help deliver to families because Because you know that's one thing People might not have a truck and a trailer right, so they have an enclosed truck so they can keep things dry.
Speaker 2:We gave to a crisis resource center here in town which you know helps families, women and children escape violence, gives them a lot of good resources, sets them up with some caseworkers and so forth. We were able to give them money as well. Real Life is an organization part of Young Life Christian group here in town and Real Life is the entity that kind of works with the kids that are in our alternative learning center, works with teens that are parenting, teens that are pregnant, just helps them do all kinds of things, from just having a place to come where you feel welcomed, helping them with resources, getting them to appointments. The list goes on and on what they're doing for the community. We gave them some money and then we gifted them the blankets Again, we were talking about how much a blanket, how a blanket makes you feel and we were able to give all 16 of their children. They're under 18, they are serving well, maybe 18 and under. We were able to gift them with a blanket and then we did a little drive where we collected hats and mittens and scarves and I thought, oh, you know, people are going to get a couple of things.
Speaker 2:I had great aunts from Iowa sending up crocheted hats. I had women from the gym that I work out crocheting hats. I had a printing company here in town, oak Glen, who donated hats and mittens and scarves Grandparents, parents. Every time I went to visit my mom she had another hat, my mother-in-law had another hat. We ended up with 150 hats, 83 pairs of mittens and about 60 scarves. So we were able to give to all four of our elementary schools our middle school, our high school, our alternative school, our women's shelter, community pathways and then Blooming Prairie, which is a small community south of us, and Medford, which is a community north of us. We're all able to get a bucket full of hats and mittens and scarves to help keep their hearts and their heads and their hands warm this year.
Speaker 1:Wow, that is incredible, yeah. The power of an auntie or a grandma, yeah, Yep, oh yeah, and they were.
Speaker 2:Some of them were just adorable, you know, you could tell that talent and love was poured into each one of those hats.
Speaker 1:You know I'm going to have to talk to my wife because she uh medicare now and she joined the y as part of her medicare benefits and she does like this water zumba class oh yeah yeah, I'm like you should talk to those ladies. I don't know how many of them knit or whatever, but yeah, get a group together.
Speaker 2:Yeah, donate to the schools. They always, always, always need those at the schools.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Or your local food shelf.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yes, yeah, there's so many places.
Speaker 2:There is. It's pretty cool, isn't?
Speaker 1:it Well. Lisa, you are amazing. I absolutely love the fact that you took the time to come on and talk to me. I love this organization. I can't wait to see what to do a year from now yeah, my brain's been turning.
Speaker 2:I, I'm get, I I'm hoping we can do some stuff throughout the year that carries on, that sets us up for the giving season.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure, look for you on Facebook. Correct yep, the Kindness Crew.
Speaker 2:Yep, yep the.
Speaker 1:Kindness Crew Does the name change every year?
Speaker 2:Well, this is the first year I've done a social media page Other than my own private social media page. I just decided not to go with that this year and decided to create because people are curious and they want to see, and I got to. You know, I have to protect kids and their identities and their things as well, so we wanted to make something a little bit more easy to access that doesn't have names and things attached to it.
Speaker 1:So so the name of your Facebook group is the Kindness Crew Service Project 2024.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're going to have to change that name, aren't we?
Speaker 1:I was going to say is it going to be the same name except 2025?
Speaker 2:Well, put 2025 on it, you bet.
Speaker 1:Okay, so if you want to go find out what's happening with the Kindness Crew, yes, check us out, that is. Boatana. Make sure to follow, make sure to donate if you can.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:I mean, you have a place to take that right.
Speaker 2:You bet.
Speaker 1:You guys have a website.
Speaker 2:We don't. But you know, we just keep getting bigger and bigger. So I'm just going to have to come up with more and more.
Speaker 1:Somebody's going to have to step up.
Speaker 2:I probably got a parent that's capable of that right.
Speaker 1:It's gotta to be. Thank you so much, I appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:Much, much luck to you guys in 2025.
Speaker 2:Yes, thank you so much.
Speaker 1:We'll talk again.
Speaker 2:I hope so. Take care, bye-bye now Take care.
Speaker 1:Bye-bye now. I want to thank you for taking this time to listen to this episode with my guest, Lisa Korbel. I hope that you're able to take something positive from Lisa's message and from the time that you spent with me. Maybe you'll be inspired, Maybe you'll be motivated. Maybe you'll be inspired, Maybe you'll be motivated, Maybe you'll be moved. If you experienced any of those positive feelings, please consider sharing this podcast with your friends and family. Also, feel free to follow us on our socials like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok. Just look for the Kindness Matters podcast or a variation of that.
Speaker 1:This podcast is part of the Mayday Media Network. If you have an idea for a podcast and need some production assistance, or have a podcast and are looking for a supportive network to join, check out maydayMediaNetworkcom and check out the many different shows, like Afrocentric, Spoiled by Movie Generation Mixtape In a Pickle Radio Show, Wake Up and Dream with D Anthony Palin, Stacks O'Packs and the Time Pals Podcast. We will be back again next week with a brand new episode and we would be honored if you would join us. You've been listening to the Kindness Matters podcast. I'm your host, Mike Rathbun. Have a fantastic week.
