A D.C. student is taking his Valentine’s Day-based philanthropy to new heights. Last year, Patrick Kaufmann, 15, gathered around 16,000 valentines from area students. This year, the project has exploded into 30,000 new cards.
“It’s amazing to me to see all like the progress and I’m very proud of everyone signing up in my project,” said Kaufmann.
After his successful 2023 Valentine’s Day, even more schools are involved — 117. That’s up from 60 last year.
Kaufmann, a Washington International School student, will take those valentines and distribute them to hospitals, nursing homes and with meal deliveries from Food and Friends, a D.C.-based nonprofit that provides home-delivered, medically-tailored meals to people with serious illnesses. Those cards will be delivered this weekend.
Kaufmann was able to visit several classrooms filled with kids making those homemade valentines.
The cards can be simple with a nice message of “Happy Valentine’s,” or lean to the more intricate with flowers made from paper with a message written on each bloom.
“I love receiving messages from people who have received cards, saying how it changed their day and how they rarely received cards since they’ve gotten older,” Kaufmann told WTOP.
Several years in and Kaufmann is still shocked at Valentines By Kids success. He hopes its success can be an inspiration for other kids to start their own philanthropic project.
“Your first idea or project might not sound great and might not start off well,” Kaufmann said, “but if you keep putting work into it, you’re gonna see results.”
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
