Oklahoma City family fun brings out the best in people. MetroFamily's May calendar features some incredible events and this weekend's variety is no exception. 

I wrote recently about Oklahoma City's professional growth and all that goes on in our community. At MetroFamily, we see so many events that are listed on our calendar and featured within Weekend Picks. This is a great place to live and we aren't the only ones who notice.

New companies have found a home here too and I had a chance this week to talk with Matt McWilliams at KIND, what I think of as "that granola company." More than just snacks, KIND is an example of a company that's investing in the places its employees live and work. Matt is an Oklahoma native; he grew up in Moore. KIND, though, has only been here about a year and Matt was happy to tell me why it's in OKC. 

"We think of Oklahoma City as an up and coming community," Matt said. "It's a great place to do business but also an ideal fit with what KIND is all about: promoting acts of kindness, from the top down." The company's KIND Movement is straightforward: there's more to business than just profit and the corporate team sees themselves as a force for doing good.

I work in marketing and I know a good campaign when I see one. KIND's brand is in a lot of places all of a sudden and we've featured several recent events. I actually met Matt at last month's World Creativity Forum. There's a series of KIND yoga classes going on now and Kindness Safari, which is coming up this Saturday at the Oklahoma City Zoo. The event is held in tandem with other zoos around the country and it features a scavenger hunt themed around kind acts. It's already one of the top-clicked events on this week's edition of Weekend Picks.

I've had another important reason to talk to Matt lately: KIND has generously agreed to provide breakfast for a community meeting MetroFamily is hosting tomorrow about foster care. We're getting the local stakeholders together in one room to talk about the key concerns and how to come together to help solve pressing issues related to the wellbeing of Oklahoma's children with an "it takes a village" approach. Ben Nockels of the 111 Project is our moderator and we'll let you know what we find out.

We're thankful that the meeting's refreshments will help fuel progress in more ways than one.

"Kindness is contagious," Matt affirmed. "One kind act inspires another and everyone's a little better off because of something that can start a chain reaction."

We couldn't agree more. 

Participating as a family has a positive effect on children, especially when they can see how being kind affects others who share their ages and interests. Want to help out with your own act of kindness? Here's an easy way to get started with making a difference for children in foster care today. Church of the Harvest's Harvest Foster Kids Camp is collecting donated supplies, from craft supplies to party decorations and dress-up clothes, to make this June's camp a success. It's an easy way to set a good example and let your children see what's possible. Initiatives like this one are important and we look forward to telling our readers more soon about other ways we can all pitch in to be that change we want to see in the world, our world, right here in central Oklahoma. 

We're glad corporate partners like KIND share that vision.