Lynda Burgman, Founder and President, started Kindness In A Box after a September 2006 trek on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in Peru. While on the trek she visited a village where the children spend most days working in the salt pools mining salt beside their parents. The conditions she found at the salt pools and in the village was very depressing. The Maras parents, like all parents, want the best education and quality of life for their children. Upon her return to the United States, Lynda immediately began a humanitarian box drive. She sent a box to every woman she knew and asked them to fill the box with new or gently used clothing, toys and school supplies. Also, in the box was another box which was to be passed on to another woman to fill. All boxes were to be mailed back to Lynda for shipment to Peru by Christmas 2006.   

Unknown to Lynda, her daughter e-mailed the Oprah Winfrey Show regarding Lynda’s “kindness box drive”.  Oprah Winfrey Show Producers contacted Lynda and invited her to the “Oprah Winfrey Pay It Forward Show” which recognized her charitable work and that of other audience members. In December 2006, Lynda shipped 2 tons of clothing, toys and school supplies to over 500 children in the village of Maras and other surrounding villages. All of the corporations Lynda contacted (FedEx, Mattel Toys, Arrow Cargo Airlines, Crown Packaging, Bank of Washington, Forest Labs and Swissport-Peru) donated their time and talents to get the shipment to Maras.  

After the shipment arrived, Lynda started a school lunch program for the last quarter of the school year, raised funds to build bathrooms at the school and bring water to the village. She is currently soliciting donations to fund a year ‘round school lunch program as the children do not have food during school hours. The school also needs to be remodeled or re-built as it is in very poor condition.  

The goal is to expand the programs and projects in Maras to other villages in Peru, other countries in Latin America and other developing countries around the world.  In order to achieve the mission, a network of “partners” must be developed that would include individuals, corporations, organizations and other agencies in each village, in each country and from around the world. Kindness In A Box has currently submitted a “partnership request” to the organization Room to Read. Partnering with Room to Read would be an example of combining mission, programs and resources for the common good. Also, Lynda has spent 25 years working for the YMCA in the United States and helping the YMCA in Columbia, South America. The YMCA is located in over 200 countries around the world.  Kindness In A Box will also partner with the each country’s YMCA to bring YMCA programs and resources to local schools and communities where appropriate.  

Launching a world-wide charitable organization certainly is not easy but, sustainable development can occur when the support is strategic and relevant to both the needs of the children and the capabilities of each local community. When families, communities and institutions invest in the education, health and well-being of children, everyone benefits.  

Long term financial support will be achieved through contributions from individuals, corporations and foundations. Lynda  has spent 35 years in non-profit development work locally, nationally and internationally and has extensive experience in fund-raising (See resume’).  

Lynda Burgman, an avid outdoorswoman, went to Peru to hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu because it was on her list of “ultimate outdoor experiences”. Little did she know that another “ultimate experience” was waiting.