SHREVEPORT – K.C. Kilpatrick Baird has served others her entire life.
As an only child, Kilpatrick Baird said her parents made sure she didn’t develop selfish tendencies as they volunteered around Shreveport consistently in programs like Meals on Wheels, other community initiatives and mission work.
Her upbringing cultivated her servant’s spirit, but she says LSUS provided the structure and the knowledge that allowed her to be a successful nonprofit operator.
Kilpatrick Baird, the CEO of Geaux 4 Kids will be LSUS’s commencement speaker at the summer graduation ceremonies Friday at Brookshire Grocery Arena in Bossier City.
“It takes more than just a vision and good intentions to run an effective and efficient nonprofit, and LSUS gave me what I needed to do that,” Kilpatrick Baird said. “You need soft skills to develop partnerships and convey your message and mission.
“You need to have the knowledge to properly evaluate a community’s needs and the best way to meet them. I couldn’t have done all that without the education I received at LSUS and without the continued support from the Institution of Nonprofit Research and Administration at LSUS.”
Geaux 4 Kids is a nonprofit organization that supports children in the foster care system.
The organization’s roots started when Kilpatrick Baird became a foster parent in 2013, taking in children escaping neglect and abuse.
Kilpatrick Baird learned firsthand that some children arrive with only the clothes on their backs, leaving the foster family to scramble for necessities like underwear, extra clothes, toiletries, snacks and toys.
“It’s pretty horrific to see the situations and the abuse and neglect that these children endure,” Kilpatrick Baird said of emergency removals in which children are in danger. “Whether the situation involves opioids or human trafficking or anything of that nature, it changes you when you see face-to-face what kids in crisis look like.
“It changed me to my core.”
Kilpatrick Baird adopted two children from her foster experience, Hallie-Stella and Jayden.
That experience sparked the idea of Project Geaux Bags, bags that contain necessities and comfort items to help ease a child’s and foster family’s transition for the first 24-48 hours.
Bags account for children of different ages and can include baby items and children’s blankets up to feminine hygiene products, journals, and other teenage-focused items.
Geaux 4 Kids volunteers collect donations and items, pack the bags and distribute to a variety of first responders such as police and the Department of Children and Family Services.
“I thought that, as a community, we can do better for these kids,” Kilpatrick Baird said. “When everything hits the fan for these kids, they deserve to have a little piece of home in a bag.”
What started in Northwest Louisiana in 2015 has taken off across the state starting in 2020 and most recently expanded into East Texas and Arkansas this summer.
“LSUS professors and members of the Institute of Nonprofit Research and Administration have been an important resource in the expansion of this organization,” said Kilpatrick Baird, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 2002 and a master’s in human services administration in 2005 while also earning nonprofit certifications from LSUS. “Starting with Norman Dolch when I was a student up to Heather Carpenter today, (INAR) provides crucial consultation and an expert perspective on the nonprofit landscape.”
While Project Geaux Bags remain the core of the organization’s activities, other initiatives like Project Just Be-Clause and Project Geaux Adopt have also taken shape.
Project Just Be-Clause supplies Christmas gifts to teenagers, typically an underserved population with most focus shifting to younger children in the holiday season. School resource officers in Caddo and Bossier parish schools identify teens in crisis and provide their names to Geaux 4 Kids.
Project Geaux Adopt provides a monogrammed backpack with an adopted child’s new initials.
As for the more than 1,000 LSUS graduates who will walk across the stage Friday, Kilpatrick Baird hopes that they walk away knowing helping others doesn’t require perfection.
“If you’re willing to ask questions, to follow up, and are willing to do the work, people will be willing to help you,” Kilpatrick Baird said. “My great uncle always said you don’t have to be the smartest person in the room, you just have to know who that person is and give them the tools they need to succeed.
“If you see a need, ask questions, start working toward a solution, and others will come to help.”
To learn more about Geaux 4 Kids, visit the organization’s website.
