‍Kids’ Chance Awareness Week is one of the most important times of the year for our community. It’s a time when our supporters unite behind our mission: to provide scholarships to children of workers who have been seriously or fatally injured on the job. Thanks to our state organizations, partners, and volunteers, this year did not disappoint.

Awareness Week 2021 saw huge participation through fundraising activities, governor’s proclamations, social media campaigns (including this video from Kids’ Chance of Illinois), and more — all efforts that helped spread awareness of our mission far and wide.

Here’s a look at just some of the Awareness Week activities that took place across the country:

• Kids’ Chance of Texas, Kids’ Chance of California, Kids’ Chance of Tennessee, and Kids’ Chance of Pennsylvania all held virtual runs.
• Kids’ Chance of Nevada ran its third annual golf tournament and Kids’ Chance of Georgia put a new spin on the traditional golf tournament with a “Top Dollars at Top Golf” event.
• Kids’ Chance of Kansas put on a “Pins for a Purpose” bowling event.
• The Louisiana Bar Foundation Kids’ Chance Scholarship Program organized an Awareness Week party at Urban South Brewery in New Orleans and awarded this year’s Hudak Scholarship recipient, Tyran, featured above with Jim Hudak.
• Kids’ Chance of California staged “Open Your Wallet Wednesday” across its social media channels.
• SFM Foundation, a Kids’ Chance affiliate in Minnesota and Iowa, hosted Virtual Fall Fundraisers.
• Kids’ Chance of Pennsylvania and Kids’ Chance of Maryland connected with students through care package events.
• Governor’s proclamations were made in many states, including Maryland, Michigan, Louisiana, Kansas, Montana, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Nebraska, and West Virginia.
• Former President of Kids’ Chance of Florida (KCFL) Bob Wilson met with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and his cabinet to introduce a KCFL scholarship recipient. This led to March 2022 being declared "Kids' Chance Awareness Month" in Florida.
• Kids’ Chance of Massachusetts undertook outreach efforts in the workers’ compensation industry by staging a referral contest.
• Several states were featured in their local media, including Kids’ Chance of South Dakota which made it on TV with this great spot on Kelo Television.

And it’s not over yet: Several Kids’ Chance organizations are holding events in the coming weeks, including Kids’ Chance of Michigan’s “Snow Delightful Top Golf” event in December and a webinar hosted by Kids’ Chance of Wisconsin.

State organizations weren’t the only ones offering an outpouring of support. Thanks to the strong relationships we’ve fostered in the industry, leading workers’ comp organizations across the nation helped to raise awareness.

We saw strong engagement from individual state sponsors, including Alaska National Insurance Company, Chesapeake Employers Insurance, and Midwest Employers. National partners Paradigm, Safety National, Genex, MyMatrixx, Berkley, and NCCI all led significant social media campaigns.

A heartfelt ‘thank you’ to everyone who participated and helped make Awareness Week 2021 a success. Because of your commitment to our mission, Kids’ Chance has more momentum behind our goal of #MoreMoneyforMoreKids.