It was while Nick Katsoris was general counsel of the Red Apple Group Inc. — a Manhattan-based conglomerate that owns and operates assets in the energy, real estate, finance, insurance and supermarket industries – that he had an epiphany. A friend who had left a major hedge fund to pursue a personal dream, said, “You know, Nick, if you’re lucky you have one good act left.”
By then Katsoris – a graduate of Fordham Preparatory School, University and Law School who loved to write – had begun to self-publish a series of children’s books about a lamb named Loukoumi (after the Greek powdered, jellied candies) and various life lessons. (The first, published in April 2005, hit No. 4 on the Barnes and Noble best-seller list and led to a New York Times story. The third of the 10 books to date, which have sold more than 100,000 copies, was titled “Loukoumi’s Good Deeds” and narrated in audio form by actress Jennifer Aniston. It would inspire an organization that works with children to do good as well.
Once the number of children grew to 40,000, resulting in a 2014 Make a Difference Award from USA Today Weekend and Points of Light, established by President George H.W. Bush, Katsoris knew that organization would require full-time attention. Today he is the founder, president and executive director of the 11-year-old, Eastchester-based Loukoumi Make a Difference Foundation, in which business and children’s development intersect with a different take on charities.
“We’re changing the landscape of philanthropy,” said, Katsoris, an Eastchester resident who continues his legal work with the American Arbitration Association. “Before, kids were told what to do . Now we ask what their passion is.”
The foundation – which works on philanthropic projects with 150,000 middle and high school students in 300 schools in 30 countries — will hold its first in-person Loukoumi Good Deed Summit April 23 through 28, bringing 200 children to the metro area, half of whom are from foreign countries. They’ll stay at the SpringHill Suites in Tuckahoe and a hotel in Times Square – two to three chaperones for every 10 children, Katsoris said – for a group of events that will include a Global Impact Forum at Eastchester High School, tours of St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the United Nations; a visit to the September 11 Memorial & Museum, where they will present 1,000 open letters on the theme of “Never Forget” to families of victims of the 9/11 terrorists attacks; and the release of “Inspiring Stories That Make a Difference 2,” with more than 125 student essays, 75 written by summit attendees. Riding the Loukoumi Good Deed Bus, the students will also be bagging groceries for the homeless.
“These kids are leaders,” Katsoris said. “They’re going to inspire each other and go help others. It’s a ripple effect.”
Another highlight of the summit will be the 11th annual Loukoumi Make a Difference Awards, which will be held April 24 at Lake Isle Country Club in Eastchester. The event is a fundraiser for the foundation, which has an operating budget of roughly $250,000, a staff of two and “thousands of volunteers.” To raise additional funds, Herde de Ferme — owned by Dee DelBello, publisher of the Westfair Business Journal — will be creating a line of alpaca scarves, designed by Peruvian children and handmade in Peru, for the organization, which has benefitted its young participants as much as the recipients of their good deeds, Katsoris said:
“A research study of 1,000 students showed that 90% of them said doing good makes them happy, improves their self-esteem and mental health and gives them purpose.”
That’s particularly apt for those who have known adversity. One child wanted to help the homeless, Katsoris said, because her mother had been homeless. To empower a child to empower others, he added, offers a boost that can be translated to the wider community and the corporate world. The Loukoumi Make a Difference Foundation has sponsored a reading library and book nook at the Westchester Children’s Museum at Playland in Rye, a treatment room at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, and a teaching kitchen in The Floating Hospital, Long Island City, Queens, where children cook for the homeless. Another project enables you to send pre-addressed, pre-stamped kindness postcards into space aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket that will then be mailed upon reentry to the person or charity of your choice, with its otherworldly path to the receiver noted.
At the same time, Katsoris said, “there seems to be a growing need for corporate events” that address the same concerns the foundation is exploring with the students. And that’s fine with him.
“We’re in the business of doing good. When you do good, you help the giver as much as the recipient.”
