Uncategorized Archives - Mindful Littles

A 7-Year Journey of Youth Leadership

We want to pause and reflect on what long-term investment in children can truly make possible.

Because children matter.

Today, we are honored to share the journey of Nina and Livia Segall.

Nina and Livia first came to Mindful Littles as 5th graders—elementary school students stepping into one of our very first large-scale mindful service projects. At the time, they were children ignited by Mindful Littles to be of service, eager to help and learn what it meant to care for their community.

Seven years later, they are high school seniors—confident leaders and mentors—stepping forward to help launch the very first Mindful Littles Club.

Their story, shared in the video below, reflects The Promise of Mindful Littles:
What happens when children are seen, supported, and trusted—year after year—to grow into themselves.

Mindful Littles isn’t a one-time program.
It’s a long-term commitment.

A commitment to building leadership, nurturing compassion, and giving young people the tools to show up for their communities—and for themselves.

As you watch Nina and Livia reflect on their 7-year journey, we hope you’ll see what long-term care, presence, and belief in children can make possible.

Thank you for believing in children.
Thank you for believing in the power of Mindful Littles.

An Invisible Hug

A moment of unexpected synchronicity connected our founder with a beneficiary, Amber Paton. What followed is now reshaping how children in her school experience food, dignity, and belonging.

Today, students at Amber’s school are living our feel-good, do-good cycle of service—not as a concept, but as an everyday practice. Through our mindful service-learning programs, children are learning how to care for themselves, one another, and their community.

Students are starting community gardens.
They are caring for their own school food pantry.
They are guiding peers along the way as emerging service leaders.

Most importantly, food-scarce students are doing this work alongside their peers—and the culture around food access at the school is shifting.

“Two of the students are food scarce at home and are not afraid to ask for snacks or ask for food baskets now at school, from us—and that feels like a huge win to me.” — Amber Paton, Camp Fire survivor

This is what real transformation looks like.

Time and time again, our programs affirm a powerful truth:
When children are engaged in purposeful acts of care from the inside out, lasting change ripples forward.

Watch our impact video to witness the power of Mindful Littles.

Bringing Joyful Relief

Research consistently shows that children learn most deeply through meaningful, real-world experiences. At Mindful Littles, our powerful feel good–do good model activates learning by doing—unlocking children’s authentic compassion, joy, and genuine desire to help.

In this video, you’ll hear how Mindful Littles’ service learning programs help children learn by doing—while bringing joyful relief for the adults working on the front lines of food insecurity.

“Sometimes our staff take on other people’s trauma. When you’ve created a happy, meaningful moment for a child, it recharges your batteries and gives you the oomph to keep going.” — Tom Dearmore, Food Bank Partner