March—A Month to Smile
- inwankwo
- 14 minutes ago
- 4 min read
What’s the most exciting part of the NCAA Division I College Basketball tournament? Is it the “Selection Sunday” part and seeing if your team gets in? Is it watching the “Cinderella Story” team make its way throughout the tournament (e.g., Loyola Chicago in 2018)? What about the Final Four round? Or do you enjoy the crowning of the champion? There are many different, exciting moments; however, if I’m going to be 100% open and honest, I’d have to say my favorite part is the Final Four. Yet, I must state that my choice is still a little bit biased—since I wrote this blog post while traveling back from Houston, TX, on the last day of March.
What’s extra special about this year (2026) is not just who’s in the Final Four, but where these schools are located—and how they connect with Cardz For Kidz. I know by the time you read this the tournament may have already moved beyond this round, but I still thought it’d be special to highlight why all of the Final Four schools (and their locations) are extra important:
University of Illinois—Enough said, right? With our global headquarters based in Illinois, there’s an obvious connection. Now, some people may hint that “U of I” is different from “UIC,” and that’s correct; still, down south is special as well. First, one of our EARLY partner hospitals, the Children’s Hospital of Illinois, is located closer to the school’s campus. We’re currently waiting on a couple of pictures so we can make a trip down there to see for ourselves a portable entertainment system sponsored by one of our key donors. It’s also not surprising that, currently, Illinois is the top state where we’ve sent the most handmade cards and portable entertainment systems. Cool, right?
University of Connecticut—Now, I don’t really want to write this one, but Connecticut will always hold a special place in my heart. The first group to EVER make cards outside of something I personally guided was an elementary school in Connecticut. Their actions sparked the first change to our mission statement. We’re consistently working to find more nonprofits and senior homes in Connecticut so we can increase our delivery in that state.
University of Arizona—It’s close, but currently, Arizona is in our “Elite Eight.” We’ve sent cards to each state (plus Washington, DC, & Puerto Rico), and even with that breadth of contributions, Arizona is one of the Top Eight states where we’ve sent the most cards—over 20k. One aspect we love about our Arizona partnership is how it shows the diversity of the children we’re reaching. Yes, it does indeed leave out the military and seniors, but we do have an array of pediatric locations. Our partnerships include hospitals’ pediatric units, Ronald McDonald Houses, and nonprofits that serve low-income children and families. That diversity is elite.
University of Michigan—Well, now I’m really biased because this is where my connection to volunteering literally all began. Also, what’s extra special is that it’s been a positive give-and-take relationship. Michigan is also in our Top Eight states, but we’ve also received lots of cards from this state as well. A couple of examples of groups are General Motors, Ally, and many parts of the University of Michigan network. I was in touch with someone on staff at the Ross School of Business about writing an article on The Michigan Difference, and in her response, she warmly shared how she recalled making cards in the past. To spread it out a bit, we also worked with a current member of our Cardz For Kidz team to send thousands of cards to Michigan State University after they had a tragedy on campus (sticking with our Connecticut model). It was wonderful that they responded and used the cards to uplift spirits.
Although there may be some personal biases, and by the time many read this blog post, we’ll be out of March, plus the NCAA Division I College Basketball tournament may be over, I still thought I should use these teams to highlight how we have special connections to a variety of states—and illustrate why sending us your cards to distribute to our partners does make a difference.
Also, not sure if you recall, but March has always been a special time for Cardz For Kidz. No, not strictly because Dave (one of our early team members) and I both have birthdays, but we used to have a March Gladness tournament. Don’t worry, there have already been some discussions, and we’re beginning the outline to bring that competition back!
Ranging from the warming of the weather to passionate (college) basketball games to the potential of increased homemade card numbers, we’ll do our best to make sure that no matter how your team is doing in the tournament, MARCH is known as A MONTH TO SMILE.