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TO JANICE WEINMAN, HELPING CHILDREN and youth isn’t a matter of theory, but of tangible reality. And as President of Kids In Distressed Situations, or K.I.D.S., she’s in charge of putting that reality into the hands of those who need it most.
K.I.D.S., founded in 1985, distributes essential goods and products to children across the globe suffering from homelessness, low literacy, natural disasters, political unrest, and other crises. Since Janice took charge in 2003, K.I.D.S. has among its many projects delivered books to students hungry for learning on Native American reservations; ballet slippers to young dancers in Baghdad; and clothing, shoes, and blankets to children left homeless by the Southeast Asia tsunami in 2004, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the wildfires that scorched California this past year.
It’s been an energizing five years for K.I.D.S., and a compelling change of focus for Janice, whose first 25 years in nonprofits were spent primarily in education. “I came out of a much more policy-oriented world into a world where you can make a much more tangible difference in people’s lives,” Weinman noted in a 2003 interview in “Kids Today.”
Other milestones achieved by K.I.D.S. under Janice’s leadership include new clothes for over 340,000 homeless children; toys for children in domestic violence shelters; a partnership with Scholastic to deliver books not only to Native American reservations, but to after-school programs and to incarcerated parents wishing to read to their children during visiting hours. And as an active member of the Hadassah Foundation,
Janice has arranged for K.I.D.S. to partner with “Fashion Delivers” in sending clothing, books, and toys to families in Israel and Lebanon. Prior to K.I.D.S., Janice served as Executive Director of the American Association for University Women, Executive Vice President of the College Board, and Vice President for External Affairs for Mt. Sinai NYU Health. Much of her work in education involved ensuring that girls receive the same opportunities as boys, and that disadvantaged children receive the same opportunities as children with greater means.
Janice often thanks K.I.D.S.’s corporate partners for their commitment to help children in this country and around the world. A similar gratitude must be extended to Janice herself, for three decades’ of unwavering service to these same children.
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