‘Conquer the world with kindness’

KleinLife, a community resource that provides social, educational and cultural programs, health and social services to the Philadelphia community and beyond, has committed to providing services for Ukrainian refugees since 2022.

So far, it has extended the hand of solidarity to more than 1,700 individuals, helping them resettle in the U.S.

“I think we hear a lot in the media today about community service and giving back,” said Moorestown resident Nicole Marshall, “and that if you do things in your own community, that that’s a way to make a difference in the world, when sometimes the world seems like a really dark place.”

Marshall recalled a feeling of helplessness and hopelessness about the world three years ago, after Russia’s February invasion of Ukraine. She shared her feelings with a friend, who connected Marshall with the president of KleinLife. Now, Marshall and her daughter, Chloe, teach art to the children at KleinLife weekly.

The two recently helped host the second consecutive New Year’s party for Ukrainian children, where Chloe and her sister, Lia, helped collect toy donations and made favor bags.

“I really wanted to get involved and make a difference and do something to counteract the darkness in the world, and so that’s why we initially got involved,” Nicole Marshall noted. “There is some negative feeling in our country about immigrants, but I think I have the feeling that … everybody that we know, everyone in my family, has some connection to someone who emigrated to this country.

“We are all the descendants of immigrants if we didn’t come here in this generation,” she added, “and I just think that it’s very important that we all pause at this moment in time and recognize that we need to have compassion towards people that are fleeing these horrible situations in other parts of the world.”

The summer before she started going to KleinLife, Chloe volunteered at the Perkins Center for the Arts. She was 15, and recalled that it was hard being that age and feeling totally powerless, especially coming out of COVID. But she persisted, and teaching at KleinLife has helped her feel like her time is made worthwhile.

“I think that was one of the driving factors of wanting to get more involved in the local community,” Chloe recalled. “People who get involved in the community really do make a difference, and if only more people knew that, then we would see change a lot faster on a national scale …

“We’re working really hard with these kids, but other refugees in these situations from other countries are equally as important,” she added, “and I think they should be paid attention to just as much as Ukrainian refugees, which is kind of a problem that I’m personally noticing in the media at the moment.”

KleinLife has inspired community efforts among people of all ages and backgrounds since 1975. Its services for Ukrainians have included an annual summer camp and after-school programs for more than 150 children, ESL (English as a Second Language) classes that benefit more than 250 adults and critical information and referral services.

“It’s important to look right in front of us and say, ‘What can we do to make a difference?’” Nicole Marshall explained. “Maybe if every single one of us does that, if every single person sets out to do that in life, then perhaps maybe we can conquer the world with kindness.”

“This is just about letting kids be kids,” Chloe observed. “They don’t want to be seen as refugee kids, and I think that’s what it’s about. It is fulfilling, but I think that’s the driving factor, just seeing their faces light up when we give them a ton of paint and they get to stick their hands in it and make a mess.

“I think it’s an opportunity for them to see what they can have here in this new space. All of their excitement about creativity and science doesn’t have to go away just because they’re in a new environment.”

For more information on KleinLife, visit www.kleinlife.org.