Young entrepreneurs support children’s charities

Every good business partnership negotiates how profits are allocated.

The partners of Kind Kids – Kool Kraft came to an agreement to split 80 percent of their future earnings between the Wishing Star Foundation and Make a Wish Foundation.

Mackenzie Dandoy, 11, daughter of Joe and Cindy Dandoy, and Taylor Eymann, 10, daughter of Richard and Sue Eymann, came up with the idea to sell hand-beaded serving pieces.

As their project developed, they decided that they should help other kids who are having a tough time in their life, and so Kind Kids – Kool Krafts was created.

Mackenzie, a sixth-grader at Moran Prairie Elementary and Taylor, a fifth-grader at St. Thomas More School, have approximately 65 pieces that they have painstakingly crafted. They pick out a color scheme and thread the brightly colored beads on wires. These wires are securely wrapped around the serving utensils, creating jeweled pieces.

The girls were both enthusiastic about the charities they wanted to help.

Mackenzie has a classmate with cystic fibrosis who is awaiting a wish from Make a Wish Foundation. Seeing what he has gone through made Mackenzie want to help by donating her 40 percent of the profits to the foundation. The rest of her share will go into a savings account.

Make a Wish Foundation has granted the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions since 1980. The worldwide organization has helped more than 127,000 children.

Taylor has chosen the Wishing Star Foundation for her donation.

“When I was little, my tae kwon do class raised money for Wishing Star. I was looking for other ways I could raise money for them,” said Taylor, who has also watched her mom volunteer for the foundation.

Wishing Star Foundation was established in 1983 to grant wishes for children in Eastern Washington and Idaho with life-threatening illnesses.

“We told the girls this had to be something they felt passionately about. That’s why they decided to split the money between the two charities,” said Cindy Dandoy.

“The girls have talked for quite awhile about doing something like this. It was so good to see their dedication and excitement,” said Sue Eymann.

Taylor and Mackenzie will begin selling their pieces for $10 each, with a set of five serving pieces for $25, at the Spokane Club craft show on Veterans Day. And since that day is a school holiday, the girls will be working their booth themselves.

Are they nervous about working a sales booth?

“Not really, I’m just excited,” said Taylor.

“We are very proud of the girls for working over 15 hours each so far on the project and deciding themselves to donate the profit to charity,” Dandoy said.

“We both feel passionate about volunteering, so when our kids came up with the idea to donate the money, we both smiled and realized we had passed on a lesson in life through our actions.

“Kids won’t always do what they are told, but they will do what they know,” she said.