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Kindness is So Gangster Collective, Spokane, WA (2026)

08/25/2026

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆

Henri Landwirth knew what it meant to have a childhood taken away.

Born in Belgium in 1927, Henri was a teenager when the Holocaust changed his life forever. For five years, he was imprisoned in N**i concentration and labor camps, including Auschwitz and Mauthausen. His parents were killed, but Henri and his twin sister, Margot, survived.

After the war, Henri came to America with very little money and limited English. He served in the U.S. Army, studied hotel management through the GI Bill, and eventually built a successful career in hospitality.

Years later, while working in Florida, Henri began helping children with life-threatening illnesses who were traveling to Central Florida through wish organizations. He provided families with free hotel rooms and helped make their trips possible.

Then Henri learned about a little girl named Amy.

Her wish was to visit Florida and meet Mickey Mouse, but the arrangements took too long. Amy passed away before her wish could be fulfilled.

Henri decided that should never happen again.

In 1986, he founded Give Kids The World.

That mission eventually became Give Kids The World Village, a place where children with critical illnesses and their families can experience a weeklong vacation completely free of charge.

Henri had lost much of his own childhood to fear and hatred.

So he spent the rest of his life helping give childhood back to others.

He later shared his journey in his memoir, Gift of Life, telling the story of surviving the Holocaust, coming to America, and creating Give Kids The World.

Henri passed away in 2018 at the age of 91, but his promise continued.

Today, Give Kids The World Village still welcomes children with critical illnesses and their families from around the world.

Henri could not change what happened to his childhood.

But he could choose what he did with the life that came after.

And he chose to give other children something priceless.

A childhood filled with joy.

That is pretty gangster.

08/20/2026

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆

History remembers Marie Antoinette for Versailles, extravagance, and a sentence about cake that she almost certainly never said.

But there is another documented story about the Queen of France.

During the brutal winter of 1783–1784, extreme cold brought terrible hardship to families across France.

King Louis XVI ordered millions of livres from the royal treasury for relief. His finance minister offered to place some of that money in Marie Antoinette's hands so it could be distributed publicly in her name.

She refused.

According to Madame Campan, one of her attendants, Marie Antoinette believed the credit should belong to the king because the money came from the royal treasury.

Instead, she contributed from her own resources, reducing expenses in her household and using her savings to help families in need.

She also wanted her children to understand what others were experiencing.

Around New Year's, beautiful toys were displayed for the royal children, as was customary. Marie Antoinette showed them the toys but explained they would not be receiving their usual gifts.

The money was being used to help struggling families with necessities such as blankets, clothing, and bread.

Her children could admire the toys, but helping people in need mattered more than receiving another gift.

Marie Antoinette remains a complicated and controversial historical figure. This act of charity does not erase the inequality of eighteenth-century France.

But it does challenge one of history's most famous images of her.

There is no reliable evidence Marie Antoinette ever said, "Let them eat cake."

Yet there is historical testimony that she gave her own money to people in need and tried to teach her children compassion.

Sometimes history is more complicated than the legend.

And kindness is always worth remembering.

08/19/2026

𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞 𝗧𝗢 𝗦𝗖𝗛𝗢𝗢𝗟... 𝗕𝗨𝗧 𝗠𝗔𝗞𝗘 𝗜𝗧 𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗗.

A new school year is about more than pencils, backpacks, schedules and freshly sharpened crayons.

It’s about getting to know the little humans sitting in those desks.

What makes them laugh? What are they proud of? Who do they look up to? Who could use a friend? What does kindness look like to them?

That’s one of our favorite things about the Kindness Is So Gangster books. They’re fun, silly and made for coloring, but underneath all of that, they give kids opportunities to talk, draw, laugh, think and share who they are.

𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗜𝘀 𝗦𝗼 𝗚𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 explores courage, gratitude, friendship, helping others and checking in on your people.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗙𝗮𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗠𝗿. 𝗙𝗶𝗯𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗸𝗶 gets kids talking about their favorite things, dreams, families and what makes them unique, with one ridiculously fibbing teacher along for the ride.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗕𝗲𝗲 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗻 𝗜𝘁𝗰𝗵 opens conversations about feelings, friendship, empathy, apologizing, self-reflection and choosing kindness even on grumpy days.

Because sometimes the best way to build a kinder classroom is simply to get to know the kids in it.

As everyone heads back to school, we’d love to see these books finding their way into more classrooms, counseling offices, libraries, rural communities and programs serving kids.

Individual copies are available on Amazon. Teachers, schools, nonprofits, libraries and organizations interested in classroom or bulk quantities, we’d love to hear from you.

We’re also excited to introduce who is helping with community and school outreach for Kindness Is So Gangster.

Matthew can be reached at [email protected].

Here’s to a school year with more laughter, more understanding and a whole lot more kindness.

Because being kind? That’s gangster.

08/12/2026

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆

At 5:12 in the morning on April 18, 1906, San Francisco began to shake.

The earthquake lasted less than a minute, but the devastation that followed changed the city forever.

Buildings collapsed. Water mains broke. Fires burned for three days and destroyed more than 500 city blocks. More than half of San Francisco's roughly 400,000 residents were left homeless.

Families gathered in parks, public squares, and temporary camps with whatever belongings they had managed to save.

Then came another urgent question.

How do you feed a city when homes, kitchens, stores, and entire neighborhoods have been destroyed?

San Francisco found a way.

Food poured in from surrounding communities. The U.S. Army, relief organizations, volunteers, and ordinary residents worked together to distribute bread, meat, canned goods, coffee, and other necessities.

Because damaged buildings made indoor cooking dangerous, people moved stoves outside. Makeshift kitchens appeared along sidewalks and streets.

Neighbors cooked near neighbors. Strangers shared food. People stood together in relief lines, helping one another through a disaster none of them could have imagined days earlier.

By April 30, more than 300,000 people were being fed through commissary food stations.

Temporary camps became communities. Dining areas became gathering places. People who had lost nearly everything still found ways to share what remained.

San Francisco would eventually rebuild.

But before the streets and buildings could be rebuilt, people took care of one another.

Sometimes kindness is a meal.

A piece of bread.

A warm cup of coffee.

A neighbor making sure another neighbor doesn't go hungry.

That is pretty gangster.

𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗜𝘀 𝗦𝗼 𝗚𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿.

08/11/2026

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆

In the spring of 1927, months of relentless rain pushed the Mississippi River beyond its limits.

Levees failed. Towns disappeared beneath muddy water. Families climbed onto rooftops, levees, and whatever high ground they could find.

The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 became one of the most destructive floods in American history. Approximately 27,000 square miles were inundated, leaving more than 700,000 people homeless.

In Mississippi, the Mounds Landing levee broke on April 21. Within days, roughly one million acres of the Mississippi Delta were underwater.

But while the water kept rising, people were already helping.

Boats became lifelines.

Rescuers traveled through flooded communities searching for stranded families. People were taken from rooftops and other high places and brought to levees, shelters, and relief camps.

Across the disaster zone, an estimated 330,000 people were rescued.

Historic photographs show streets transformed into rivers, families living in tents, and boats traveling through communities where roads once stood.

This history also has a painful side. African American flood victims, particularly around Greenville, Mississippi, faced discrimination and mistreatment during relief efforts. Some were even prevented from evacuating.

Kindness does not require us to erase the painful parts of history. It asks us to remember all of it.

The people who climbed into boats, delivered supplies, cared for displaced families, and searched flooded communities could not stop the Mississippi River.

But they could choose to help.

Sometimes courage is that simple.

You see someone stranded.

You have a boat.

So you go.

𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗜𝘀 𝗦𝗼 𝗚𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿.

08/10/2026

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆

On March 11, 1888, rain began falling across parts of the northeastern United States.

Then the temperature dropped.

The rain turned to snow, powerful winds intensified, and what followed became one of the most devastating winter storms in American history.

The Great Blizzard of 1888 brought New York City and much of the Northeast to a standstill. Streets and railroad tracks disappeared beneath the snow. Telegraph and telephone lines went down. Trains became trapped. More than 21 inches of snow fell in New York City, with enormous drifts making travel incredibly dangerous.

Thousands of passengers became stranded on elevated trains.

And in the middle of the chaos, people found ways to help one another.

Historical accounts describe people bringing ladders to stranded elevated trains so passengers could climb down to the streets. Hotels filled with people who could not make it home, giving stranded New Yorkers somewhere to wait out the storm.

Outside, visibility disappeared, transportation stopped, and some communities were cut off from communication.

More than 400 people ultimately died across the Northeast, including roughly 200 in New York City.

It was a tragedy.

But in the middle of it, ordinary people still found ways to help.

A ladder.

A place indoors.

A helping hand.

A way to get someone somewhere safer.

They could not stop the storm. They could only do what they could with what they had.

And maybe that is one of history's greatest lessons about kindness.

You do not have to fix everything to make a difference.

Sometimes you simply have to notice someone who needs help and choose to reach for them.

𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗺.

𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝘀 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵.

08/05/2026

He's back.

And he's funnier, sillier, and more imaginative than ever.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗙𝗮𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗠𝗿. 𝗙𝗶𝗯𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗸𝗶 has been completely reimagined, revamped, and is officially here!

Meet the bowtie-wearing teacher with a very big imagination and a tiny little problem with the truth.

He invented spaghetti.
He owned a flying tiger.
He met Elvis in a hot air balloon.
And his moon base?
Well... that might have been a blanket fort.

Mr. Fibberlinski's students never know what unbelievable story he'll tell next. But when one over-the-top fabrication grows just a little too big, he discovers that telling the truth can be brave, kind, and even pretty funny.

Inside this laugh-out-loud coloring and activity book, kids will find silly adventures, creative drawing prompts, fun questions, coloring pages, and activities that encourage imagination while celebrating something even more important.

Being yourself.

Perfect for children ages 5 to 10, classrooms, homeschool, road trips, waiting rooms, rainy afternoons, and family time, this book reminds kids that they never have to pretend to be someone they're not to be accepted.

Because a big imagination is something to celebrate.

But the real you?

That's the greatest story you'll ever tell.

Welcome back, Mr. Fibberlinski. We can't wait for a whole new generation of readers to laugh, create, and discover that honesty and imagination can go hand in hand.

08/03/2026

The Gangster Story

When most people think of Johnny Depp, they think of Captain Jack Sparrow.

But for countless children fighting cancer and other life-threatening illnesses, Captain Jack was much more than a movie character.

Over the years, Johnny Depp has quietly walked the halls of children's hospitals around the world dressed in full Captain Jack Sparrow costume. He stayed in character, joked with patients, posed for photos, listened to their stories, and turned ordinary hospital rooms into places filled with laughter and imagination.

Many of these visits were never announced in advance and were not connected to movie premieres or publicity events. Hospital staff have often shared that he spent hours visiting children one by one, making sure every child felt seen.

For a child facing chemotherapy, surgery, or months away from home, those moments mattered.

He could not take away their illness.

But for a little while, he helped replace fear with laughter, worry with adventure, and hospital walls with the feeling that anything was possible.

Sometimes kindness is not about fixing someone's pain.

Sometimes it is simply showing up.

That's Gangster.

07/30/2026

Please join us in giving a very warm welcome to the newest member of the Kindness Is So Gangster family, Matthew Avey.

Matthew is joining us as our Community Partnerships | Kindness Is So Gangster | The Field Notes Project | Rural Community Advocate.

Matthew will be helping us build meaningful relationships with communities, organizations, schools, and partners who believe, just like we do, that kindness has the power to create real change.

He'll also be working alongside The Field Notes Project, helping us celebrate rural communities, amplify the incredible people who make them special, and continue growing a movement centered around connection, compassion, and community.

At Kindness Is So Gangster, we believe kindness is more than a nice idea. It's a choice. It's leadership. It's courage. And it's something worth building together.

We're so excited to have Matthew join our mission, and we can't wait for you to see the impact we'll make together.

Welcome to the family, Matthew.

Kindness looks good on you.

07/24/2026

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆

On April 26, 1986, Reactor No. 4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded during a safety test, triggering the worst nuclear disaster in history.

Within minutes, firefighters from nearby towns, including the city of Pripyat, were called to what they believed was a routine industrial fire.

They had no idea they were walking into an invisible danger.

At the time, many of the first responders had not been told that the reactor core had exploded or that the graphite scattered around the site was intensely radioactive. Wearing only standard firefighting gear, they climbed onto rooftops, carried heavy hoses, and battled flames surrounding the destroyed reactor.

Among them was Lieutenant Vladimir Pravik, who led one of the first responding crews. Alongside him were firefighters including Viktor Kibenok, Vasyl Ignatenko, and many others who worked through the night despite experiencing nausea, dizziness, and burns caused by radiation they could not see.

Their efforts stopped the fires from spreading to nearby buildings and equipment. Nuclear experts have long credited the firefighters' actions with helping prevent an even larger catastrophe by containing the blaze around the damaged reactor in its earliest hours.

Many of those first responders received radiation doses far beyond what the human body can survive.

In the days and weeks that followed, dozens became critically ill with acute radiation syndrome. Several, including Pravik, Kibenok, and Ignatenko, died within weeks of the explosion.

They never volunteered expecting recognition.

They simply answered the alarm.

When people needed help, they ran toward the danger while everyone else was being told to run away.

Their courage saved lives they would never meet.

That is what real bravery looks like.

𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗚𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿.

Kindness is So Gangster Collective

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