Conversations with Ted Dreier

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ted Dreier.

Hi Ted, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Ted’s immense devotion to charity and kindness is best understood through the genesis of Children’s Kindness Network (CKN) and Moozie the cow, the beloved kindness mascot. “Farmer Ted” grew up on a Kansas dairy farm and became a corporate executive/speaker. He built a talking mechanical cow while tinkering in his garage and accepted the invitation to share it with children at a Head Start school. Ted discovered that Moozie connects with children in a special way; he and the teachers were amazed at how wiggly children were glued to Moozie as she talked about kindness. Teachers recounted that they heard Moozie’s name being used on the playground, e.g. “Moozie wouldn’t like you to say that,” or “Moozie would want you to do this instead.”

By then, Ted had seen the effects of unkindness, especially bullying. For one and a half years, he met weekly with a young man serving a life prison sentence. Ted pondered whether his life might have been better with a kind influence like Moozie. He thought the kind cow could help youth make the right decisions and create better lives for themselves and others. This led to Ted, at age 60, fully committing to a new life chapter focused on teaching children kindness through Moozie. In 1998, he founded CKN, the nonprofit devoted to building a culture of kindness by teaching young children how and why to be kind – to oneself, others, animals, and Earth.

Numerous testimonials, from early child development experts, brain health professionals, teachers/school administrators, parents, childcare center heads, etc., herald the clear positive impacts that Moozie resources/programs spearheaded by Ted and other at CKN have on increased children’s kindness and empathy. The evidence-based teaching resources found at Moozie.org help build critical lifelong social and emotional skills – and increase participating parents’ resiliency. Under Ted’s lead, CKN began “Operation Moozie” to distribute backpacks carrying Moozie books, cuddly hand puppets, and art to bring cheer to children of military families with deploying parents. As directors at USAG Ansbach Army based shared, “The children absolutely love the backpacks… perfect for our children. They are developmentally appropriate, and we are eager to use them with our Military families.” CKN also donates Moozie book/resource kits to schools and libraries, particularly those serving children in need. Over the years, thanks to Ted’s magnetic charity and leadership, more than 400,000 US children (typically 3-8 years, yet also younger and older) have been touched by Moozie through CKN programs. In 2023, Moozie directly impacted at least 4,000 children globally.

Some of the recent events this year where Moozie (mascot) appeared and engaged with children are below. At several of these events, children kindly and happily made cards for seniors in Nashville nursing homes/low-income housing (as coordinated with Greater Nashville Regional Council).

– “Charity of the Game” at the Nashville Sounds Aug 11 baseball game to launch “It’s Easy To Be Kind” campaign (for submissions of song and acts of kindness with winners revealed November 13, World Kindness Day)
– Moozie Kindness Day at Williamson County Animal Center’s annual Animal Edventure Summer Camp (June and July weeks)
– CKN-hosted fun kindness zone at WalkWithUs 5K/Family Fun event benefiting Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.
– Visits to over 20 preschools in Williamson County, and additional classes at Metro Nashville Public Schools with Moozie, for dialogic Moozie kindness reading
– Participation in Juneteenth Celebration at historic McLemore House in Franklin.
– Support for Mercy Community Healthcare with Moozie kindness booth/activities at annual Mercy Back to School Bash and Mercy Franklin Classic 25th anniversary race.

Over the past year or two other Moozie engagements and activities included:
Moozie back-pack kit donations to children of military families with parent’s deploying; Williamson County Entrepreneurship & Innovation Center student team collaboration; Church-based Caring for Earth Day; Rotary Club of Franklin Pre-Rodeo Parade; Easter Egg Hunt and Moozie Summer Lawn readings, Franklin; Saddle Up for MTSU Ann Campbell Early Learning Center. Williamson County Public Library Franklin, Earth Day reading and upcycle crafting with Moozie; Children’s Halloween/Birthday Parties in Nashville; Visits to Franklin Elementary Kindergarten classes and Metro Nashville elementary and middle school classes.

We are incredibly grateful for Ted’s deeply humble kindness, unwavering support, inspiring example of selfless commitment, passion to continuously improve, and brilliance in creating effective approaches to achieve CKN’s vision: shape a world where kindness prevails. Ted inspires all of us touched by Moozie. We feel blessed to have Moozie the cow who helps teach kindness and brings cheer to children.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Through the now 26 years of CKN’s mission in action, there have been challenges. Ted Dreier has gracefully navigated through all of them with unwavering positive spirit and absolute dedication to bringing Moozie kindness. Over the past year and a half, given his current sunset chapter of life, Ted has gradually moved away from the day to day operations and engagements of the nonprofit. Still on the Board and still selectively attending a Moozie kindness event here and there as he is able, Ted continues to be an ever-available, supportive, and gentle advisor. He is a continuous marvelous source of inspiration and creativity (as always) for co-Board members and leaders Vic Legerton (President and CEO) and Trish Cronin (Executive Director).

A continuous challenge for CKN, a small nonprofit, is revenue growth and fundraising, with so many wonderful nonprofit organizations seeking donations, essentially competing for charitable giving, especially in the Greater Nashville area. Growing revenues in order to cover costs behind Moozie outreach programs (e.g. more books and Moozie plushy puppets for schools and children in need/hardship circumstances) and community engagement (e.g. exhibit materials) is a current struggle, and CKN is cautiously approaching merchandise sales to supplement grants (a bigger source of income in prior years) and also encouraging donations.

CKN identified technology investment for an updated, attractive website as a priority a few years ago. The road that ultimately landed on contracting the current website technology developer and support partner was not always smooth.  Ongoing technology maintenance expense and ongoing vision and execution capabilities to leverage appropriate technology and optimize social media are ongoing challenges, in order to keep CKN fresh, relevant, engaging, and thriving.

Other challenges for CKN have included sustained Board member and sufficient volunteer commitment. Two years ago, several inactive directors were rolled off the Board, and CKN has been selectively targeting new Board candidates who share Moozie kindness passion and can commit to their dedication of modest time and talent. A new Board member has just been nominated for approval, and this will be a great addition. A solid number of volunteers (who are awesome, though numbers are small)  balanced to the number of impactful Moozie engagements is always the goal. Working with key, likeminded nonprofit partners is big benefit to CKN. Fortunately, CKN’s home/backyard, Franklin (and Brentwood and Nashville) is fertile ground for excellent nonprofits and community-minded organizations.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?

So… Ted Dreier’s background was: He grew on a dairy farm in Kansas. He believed in the power of kindness, which was always part of his life, starting with a strong faith-based background. (Over the past 20+ years, Ted and his wife Karen have been devoted members of Brentwood – United Methodist Church). When he was a child, his mom would ask him to play with another child how might not have anyone playing with him/her. Today, Ted still reaches out to talk to anyone who appears left out at social events. Later in life, Ted thought there might be fewer wars if we better knew each other, so he spent three years teaching math to children in Malawi Central Africa.

Ted spent 27 years of his career hosting customer relations seminars across the US, reaching 140,000 participants in 50 states, working with adults on being nice. He developed the LEAR approach for working with irate people (Listening, Empathy, Ask, Respond), an audio/video program sold in the 1980’s. He published over 80 customer relations articles for trade publications. He also was a mediator in Dallas, working on business/domestic cases. At age 50, Ted published a book Take Your Life Off Hold, inspired by Ted and Karen’s simplifying their lives and moving to Breckenridge, CO. He was covered by many media shows. Ted has been an innovator all his life. As noted earlier in the interview materials, in his late 50s he tackled building a cow in his garage, for fun. When Moozie the talking robotic cow was born after a couple of years, he responded to a request of a Head Start school in Denton TX to bring the cow into the class who was studying farming. He programed the cow with a message of spreading the milk of human kindness. Given how glued to Moozie/her message the children were, Ted committed at age 60 to a new chapter of life: launching CKN nonprofit with Moozie teaching the value of kindness to young children.
I know Ted is proud and humbled that he was able to find his purpose, which he said can often come about in unexpected ways. He never set out to doing where he ended up when he started the project of building a cow. Ted has been motivated by seeing how he could reach out to make a difference in other individuals’ lives. Ted’s selflessness, innovation, and passion to help others be better versions of themselves are what set him apart.

What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
There are several characteristics in combination that drive Ted Dreier’s success:

– genuine selflessness with keen interest in helping and listening to others
– creativity and innovation – with willingness to have faith in where these creative/brainstorming traits take him
– extraordinary passion to make positive difference in the lives of children… so they develop the social emotional aptitude to be kind, respectful citizens of our world, our future

Pricing:

• Moozie resources are available for sale
• Moozie Kind Adventure, and Moozie Orchestra Adventure hard cover Books: $14.95 each
• Moozie plushie/hand puppet: $24.95/each
• Moozie soft cover coloring/story book: $8.00 each
• Free to underserved schools/communities. Sales to families/organizations/other schools help fund Moozie programs and help reinforce Moozie kindness lessons/habits.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.moozie.org
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @moozieckn
• Facebook: @moozieckn
• Twitter: @moozieckn
• Youtube: @moozieckn