Oklahoma City is overflowing with generous groups—too many to list them all. However, we have highlighted a few local gems below, along with their greatest needs. We hope you discover a nonprofit that inspires you to do a little good this season, and, perhaps, recruit a few friends to do a little more.
There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children. – Nelson Mandela
- K Club – Seven-year-old Keaton founded K Club to spread kindness while he was battling leukemia. Keaton set membership fees at $1, or “whatever a person can afford.” Under his leadership as president, K Club purchased balloons for patients on his hospital floor and gift cards for families with patients in the NICU, among other thoughtful endeavors. Tragically, Keaton passed away at age 8, but his legacy lives on, as K Club continues to serve pediatric cancer patients and their families. It provides Lego sets to children in the hospital, care packs to children in hospice, and assistance with funeral costs for children who have lost their battle with cancer.
Greatest need: Membership. Everyone is invited to join the K Club for Keaton’s original price of $1. For as little as $5 a month, members can help K Club cheer children in the hospital by celebrating their birthdays and milestones.
- Del City Sisterhood Project – When teachers Angel McCollister and Danielle Taylor noticed that students at Del City High School were calling in to school sick because they couldn’t afford basic feminine hygiene products, they knew they had to help. The Del City Sisterhood Project was born with the goal of providing free period products to every menstruating student for the entire school year. Dr. Benjamin Barenberg of Optimal Health and Lauren Fassio of Social House Digital Marketing wanted to get involved in raising awareness and accepting donations of feminine hygiene products. Last year, more than 7,000 individual hygiene products were donated through the local drive alone, which supplied the Del City High School bathrooms for the entire 2021-22 school year.
Greatest need: Feminine hygiene products as well as small makeup bags for the students to discreetly carry their supplies. You can mail products directly to Del City High School in care of Angel McCollister or Danielle Taylor at the address above, or drop products off at Dr. Barenberg’s Optimal Health clinic at 9800 Broadway Extension, Suite 200, in Oklahoma City.
- Angels Foster Care Network – Angels Foster Care Network believes families are a tremendous resource, so its members give families the highest level of support, every step of the way, in each foster care journey. By incorporating resources like the HALO Project and Trust-Based Relational Intervention therapy, Angels strives to be a solution—not just a bandage—to the foster care system. The Angels Network cultivates strong relationships between the foster parent and child, the caseworker and parent, and others who may be involved. Members value community collaboration, volunteerism, and establishing the best homes possible to care for infants, toddlers, children, and teens.
Greatest need: Foster families and donations of diapers, wipes, school supplies, and gift cards to buy clothing and food.
- CARE Center – Heal and educate. These two tactics are what the CARE (Child Abuse Response and Evaluation) Center does best. Its talented team, community-wide partnerships, and thoughtful programs are helping children and adults prevent and overcome the devastating effects of child abuse. Since inception in 1991, the CARE Center has been Oklahoma County’s only child advocacy center. The child-based program ROAR—which teaches children to recognize abuse and speak out—recently received accolades for giving children a voice. In 2019, it served 18,612 people; more than 14,000 were children. With a building expansion on the horizon, the CARE Center is poised to heal and educate many more.
Greatest need: Funding for victim-service programs. The organization continues to experience a decline in federal funding, which was recently cut by 30 percent. It is relying more and more on outside donations.
