CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It starts with a small bag. Inside: a toy police car, a Rubik’s Cube, a play pad, some Band-Aids and a few words of encouragement.
To an adult, it might look like a simple collection of items. But to a child in crisis, it’s a lifeline.
This is the heart behind Kits4Kids, a grassroots project that’s grown into a statewide movement thanks to two Charlotte fathers on a mission to ease the trauma children experience during emergency situations. Their goal is to bring calm where there’s chaos — and connection where there’s fear.
For co-founders James Fisher-Davis and Kevin Gatlin, it began with one question: What if first responders had a tool to comfort kids during their worst moments?
“It’s a great feeling,” Fisher-Davis said. “We went from wanting to provide 100 to 125 kits to just local first responders, to providing over 10,000.”
That’s 10,000 children who may have been met with something more than sirens and flashing lights — something as simple as a toy, a smile and a sense that they’re not alone.
“These kits were designed to help kids facing trauma or adversity,” Fisher-Davis said. “But we’ve found they help the parents, too. When a first responder kneels down to hand a child one of these kits, it sends a message. 'We see you. We care.' That’s priceless.”
In many cases, these kits are handed out during the hardest moments families will ever face — domestic disputes, fires, accidents. They give officers a tool to break through the fear.
Sgt. Don Warren of the Matthews Police Department remembers one call vividly.
“A parent was going through a domestic situation with her significant other,” he said. “The kid was standing there, and you could tell how traumatic it was. I pulled the child aside and gave him a kit. It took his mind off everything. I sat with him, playing with the toy cars and the Rubik’s Cube, while other officers helped the mom.”
It’s a small gesture. But in that moment, it meant everything.
Beyond emergency calls, Kits4Kids is helping rebuild something larger: trust between children and the officers who serve their communities.
“A lot of kids are afraid of us,” Warren says. “So I think it’s super important for us to build those relationships early and change the narrative and that starts with us.”
Fisher-Davis shares that vision.
“We want kids to grow up saying, ‘I want to be a police officer. I want to be a firefighter.’ We want to change the way they see those uniforms — not with fear, but with admiration.”
Kits have already been distributed to the Monroe Police Department, Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office, Matthews Police Department, Union County Police Department, Miami-Dade Police Department, Fort Lauderdale Police Department and others. Next up: Raleigh, with other states on the horizon.
What began as a local act of love is quickly turning into a national model for community care.
Because sometimes, the most powerful tools aren’t weapons or radios — they’re rubber wheels, bright colors and a few kind words packed inside a drawstring bag.
