How did the Kao Brothers profits serve their community
From smaller individual projects to bigger projects.
With their profits, the brothers supported charity projects near and dear to their hearts. The three of them chose some projects as a group and some individually. For example, the Kao boys had chickens as pets in their backyard and they love animals in general. So, they donated to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) together.
One day, Ashton saw the movie, Dolphin Tale. He followed Winter on the camera at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. So, he used his portion of the charity fund to support that project.
Ethan loves dogs, so he supports small animal rescue charities.
As the years went by, the Kao boys continued working the lemonade stands, changing things up by adding bottled water. One year, Ashton contributed items they won at carnivals and parties and sold them for 50 cents each. That worked! They learned that putting their lemonade stand at the entrance of the park was the best location.
Focus 2018-2019
Our current goal is to support projects which are looking for seed money in order to obtain a larger grant. We are particularly interested in schools who have tried but cannot get enough funds for seed grants for worthy causes such as playgrounds. We want to multiply the effectiveness of our donations. We also continue to provide Ipads or computers to nonprofits who educate the underserved locally and internationally. Another cause of particular focus is support of after-school and literacy programs in underserved areas.
2016-2018 Grants
Projects
Date TBD: India there are two places but I need to identify them one is in Chennai. The other one is in the headquarters of the Nobel prize winner Kaleash
2012 Cypress Point Property
2013 Treasure Forest Playground
One of their favorite projects was helping provide a seed grant for an elementary school in Spring Branch, TX. The boys visited the school and noticed that there was no playground. The principal informed them that they were in great need for a place for her students to play. The students were literally playing in mud during school hours. However, after dozens of fundraising attempts, they were not able to come up the money needed to have a matching grant for the city’s grant for a new playground.
The brothers wanted to help the students have a nice playground for their school. So, they voted to provide funds for the seed grant so that the elementary school could receive a $95,000 grant to build a beautiful brand new playground. A year later, they were invited back to the school to see the playground. The Kao boys were overjoyed to see how happy the students were and they stayed and played themselves as well.
2013 backpack
With the profits they made from their summer jobs, they bought and stuffed backpacks first for kids living in the apartment communities owned by their family business. They bought the backpacks and stuffed them with pencils, erasers etc. Later, they also donated to schools and churches, making it a yearly project for them and their friends.
STEM
ipads to start a brand new STEM project in Houston for kids in apartment communities. schools in India, Africa and since 2017 they donate Chromebooks to seniors to use them in college.
2015 Meals on Wheels
2016 Animal rescue shelters
2016 Toys for SEARCH for Homeless