Our Mission
Sharing God’s transforming hope with kids and their communities through food, play and story.
Our Vision
We will strategically impact the lives of four million children through our outreach programs (KIDStory, OneMeal, and Playgrounds) by the year 2020. We recognize that nearly 25% of children under the age of 14 who hear and believe the Gospel message will begin a relationship with Jesus, so our vision is to see one million one lives transformed.
We also recognize that 85% of children learn best through teaching that is oral based, so we will share the message of God’s love primarily through Bible Storying. Our training will focus on methods and strategies that will assist in creating environments where children can be nurtured to make an impact in their communities.
Our primary area of focus will be in communities where the Church isn’t engaged to meet the needs of children, or there is no Church presence at all. In order for us to accomplish our vision, we partner and network with like-minded churches, organizations, and individuals to globally impact the lives of children.
Our Partnerships
Philosophy of Collaboration
Kids Around the World is a catalyst, designed and destined to serve the mission-success of our field partners at ground level. Every initiative we undertake exists within a collaborative framework, ensuring efficiency of resources and maximized efficacy in our combined work to bring spiritual, physical and emotional well-being to suffering children and their communities around the world.
Our President
Jim Rosene, President
With the commitment to reach children worldwide for Jesus, Jim Rosene has been the President of Kids Around the World, a faith-based, non-profit missions organization, since it was founded in 1994. Before this, Jim was an elementary school teacher and then the Associate Pastor of Children’s Ministries at First Evangelical Free Church in Rockford, IL. Jim and his wife, Denise, live in Rockford, IL while their son Jeff lives in Southern California and their daughter Jenny in Minneapolis.
Our Board of Directors
Bill & Tonya Meister, Chairman
Denny & Evie Johnson, Founder & Chairman Emeritus
Bob & Jeanne Lindman
Jim & Denise Rosene, President
Kurt & Sue Jensen
Steve & Marita Sjogren, Treasurer
Raul & Jill Rodila
Dave & Jill Love, Vice Chairman
Dan & Barb Martin
Frank & Sonja Beach
Jim & Sharon Hessenthaler
Judy Roberts, Secretary
Paul Bierhaus
Rich & Michele Meyer
Our Team
Jim Binder
Systems Support
April Bodrie
Senior Manager, Finance
Tim Clauson
Senior Manager, Playgrounds
Dave Dahl
Senior Manager, Projects
Phil Falconer
Playground Support
Jim Kamikawa
Corporate Development and Foundation Specialist
Dan Liesik
Vice President of Operations
Melissa Lounsbury
Vice President of Mission Advancement
Andrew Martin
OneMeal Director
Debbie Morales
Mission Advancement Specialist
David McDonald
OneMeal Event Manager
Britta Brown
Communications Manager
Coleman Nelson
Event Manager
Steve Nine
GenHope International Director, Ecuador Director
Chase Perkins
Mission Advancement Specialist
Jim Rosene
President
Jeff Rosene
Executive Vice President
Garrett Schneider
Food Program Event Manager
Sam Snyder
Senior Manager, Logistics
Gary Strudler
KIDStory Global Director
Brian Wahl
Regional Director of Mission Advancement
Jared Weidman
Marketing Director
Greg Weitzel
Sr. Director of Mission Advancement
Moses Andruga
GenHope Uganda Director
Jacky Altamirano Nine
GenHope Ecuador
Jorge Oliveros
KIDStory Training and Development, Latin America
Antonella Cantando Oliveros
Kidstory Training and Development, Latin America
Marlon Suarez
GenHope Ecuador
Juan José Altamirano
GenHope Ecuador
Katherine Lopera
GenHope Ecuador
Mario Bertis
GenHope Ecuador
Ramon Corsino
GenHope Dominican Republic Director
Cristopher Macias
GenHope Ecuador
Aracelys Reyes
GenHope Dominican Republic Director
Our History
In 1994, KATW began when Denny and Evie Johnson came up with a plan to help Rockford’s sister cities around the world (sister cities allow for average citizens to engage in diplomatic relationships). One of Rockford’s many sister cities is Brovary, Ukraine. As a gift to Brovary, KATW built the first of two playgrounds for the city’s children.
In March 2000, Jim Rosene started working full-time for KATW as President. For the first 6 years, Kids Around the World was an all volunteer organization — gifted men and women led the charge under the leadership of the Board of Directors. As the organization continued to grow, it became obvious they needed a full-time leader and in March 2000, Kids Around the World welcomed Jim Rosene as their President.
In 2008, KATW started OneMeal, a mobile food-packing program that feeds children worldwide. Local churches, schools, businesses, and civic groups even host food packing events at their own locations or at the KATW warehouse.
From the very beginning, we had an outreach to children with puppets, songs and flannelgraphs, but realized we could accomplish so much more if we were able to train and equip leaders with an oral-based strategy: Bible Storytelling. It was in 2015 that we officially launched KIDStory, impacting lives of children by creating an environment where they are loved and accepted, play games, and have fun learning the Bible.
In October 2015, we launched an aggressive campaign, One Million One! In order to accomplish our goals, we needed more space and in May 2016 we moved to our new location in Rockford — nearly 50,000 square feet of warehousing — allowing us to accomplish so much more.
Our story began 25 years ago when a team of volunteers traveled to Ukraine to build a playground for children in need.
Since then, we have built over 800 playgrounds, shipped over 27,000,000 meals, and nearly 20,000 KIDStory Clubs have been launched, providing ongoing storytelling methodology centered on Jesus’ hope.
Our Financials
Kids Around the World is eager both to remain financially transparent as well as to strive for financial growth for the purpose of serving more children. We work to continue our efficiency in raising and spending money. We are proud to report that in 2021, the percentage of funds used directly for program services was 90%, while the percentage spent on administrative and fundraising expenses was 10%. We continually maximize our effectiveness as we deliver the gift of food, play, and story all over the world — thanks to donors and partners like you.
When it comes to donations and giving to Kids Around the World, we abide by the financial guidelines set forth by the ECFA (view documentation). This specific document explains their policy on Stewardship of Charitable Gifts.