KWAKers (Kids With A Kause)

Favorite Projects
  • Participating in the Sidewalk Chalk Flood
  • Holding a sock drive for local youth and veterans’ shelters
  • Holding the Halloween BOO-tique costume sale
  • Participating in the Urbandale fall clean-up
  • Making KWAKer Kleaner
  • Baking cookies for Ronald McDonald House
  • Cleaning neighborhood streams and parks
  • Sponsoring a family for the holiday season
  • Making and selling dog biscuits and toys to raise money for animal rescues and shelters

“Kids With A Kause” is a free, community-based, youth-led service program. The KWAKers group began in October 2008 and is open to any youth age 5-11 throughout the Des Moines metro area.

Youth engage in regular youth-directed service projects and raise their own funds, with proceeds going to support future service projects. KWAKer youth decide which projects they want to do, plan them, and carry them out with the support of an adult facilitator, while incorporating key elements of service-learning (Investigation, Planning, Action, Reflection, Demonstration, and Celebration).

Parent involvement is an important part of this program and is required for students under 8 years of age.

For more information or to join KWAKers, contact Alicia Vermeer at KWAKers@cyconcepts.org. And don’t forget to “Like” the KWAKers Facebook page!

The KWAKers mission is to engage elementary-age students in service learning. We strive to ensure that members:

  • have positive experiences with service while they are young.
  • use their voices to plan and lead projects so they feel invested in their service from start to finish.
  • feel engaged their communities so they are more likely to continue serving as they get older.

Every meeting begins with a fun game or ice breaker and a snack. Then we do one of the following:

  • Dream It/Do It if we are ready to start a new service project.
  • Continue to plan our chosen project by using the computers to research, getting supplies together, or hosting a speaker from a community organization related to our interests.
  • SERVE!
  • Reflect and celebrate with one another after a project has been completed.

“Thank you for your support to Iowa Homeless Youth Centers. Our youth always need socks and will benefit from your gift-400 pairs of socks.”

Iowa Homeless Youth Shelters