A Meal at a Time: One Family's Way of Giving Back

Keanu and Tristen Ellen, 13 and 10, and their fellow volunteers kept the assembly line moving Saturday morning at their Calabasas home. Bread, turkey or ham and lettuce. Mustard and mayonnaise packets, an orange—“because a lot of [homeless people] don’t have good teeth,” Keanu explained—and their father Brett Ellen’s freshly baked cookies.

Before long, hundreds of these meals were packed into cars and SUVs and driven to Santa Monica, where they were doled out to the homeless men and women living on the streets.

Keanu and Tristen are the inspiration for and part of the driving force behind Calabasas-based charity Turn Kindness On.

“We always feel when we’re driving away that we want to come back and give them everything we have, even the clothes off our backs,” says Keanu. Seeing the appreciation on the faces of those he, his family and friends help “really makes you feel like your heart is going to pop out of your chest.”

Some two dozen volunteers assembled at the Ellen residence on Saturday to prepare the meals and make the trek.

“I love the idea of kids helping the community and seeing the difference we can make,” says volunteer Savannah Fine of Thousand Oaks. The 16-year-old got involved with Turn Kindness On two years ago. “When we go, I see how many people are out there who honestly need our help, and the joy that we bring just giving them a sandwich and a cookie.”

The Ellens have seen the impact such a small gesture can make firsthand since founding organization in 2001.

“As soon as Mandy and I had our first son, Keanu, she wanted to start teaching him empathy, to want to make a difference,” says Brett Ellen, president and CEO of American Financial Network, a financial advisory firm. “Tristen was born two-and-a-half years later so we had the idea to call [the organization] TKO—Tristen and Keanu’s Organization—initially.”

Brett Ellen, the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s Humanitarian of the Year in 2008, fully funds TKO so there’s no overhead, which means every penny raised goes towards the charity. He also won the Investment News Community Leadership Award in Mentoring Excellence in 2009, and with it a $15,000 donation to Turn Kindness On.

“Someone can make an investment or give some time once, and that’s great,” he says, “but if you teach a kid that this is meaningful and a lifelong commitment, that’s the greatest investment you can make.”

Mandy Ellen, who recently appeared on Bravo’s Thintervention with Jackie Warner, learned the importance of philanthropy as a child from her mother Lynette, a real estate agent who would bring homeless people into their home in Lahaina on the island of Maui.

“She would let them shower, give them clothes, let them do odd jobs around the house so they felt like they earned it, give them money and food,” Mandy recalls. “That stuck with me.”

Mandy said she wanted to instill these values in her children.

The Ellens, including Brett’s three children from a previous marriage, are involved in a variety of projects through Turn Kindness On.

Just last weekend, volunteers visited Ventura Townhouse, an assisted living center, and played bingo with and held a raffle for the residents.

The Ellens also engage in projects abroad.

“We have a blessed life and travel often,” says Mandy, “so instead of just enjoying ourselves, we decided to find something there that we could do to give back.”

While in Moorea, French Polynesia, the family volunteered at Arii Heiwa Rau Care Center.

“We were the first Americans the kids had ever met,” Mandy said. “We were not only representing our family, but also representing America to them. It was such an impactful thing.”

Since then, the family has volunteered in Bali and at the Rehema Orphanage in Kenya’s Korogocho slums.

A new endeavour is Camp TKO, a summer camp for the children of men and women who have served or are serving in the U.S. military.

“I’ve got people out there protecting my family, protecting me, and I think we owe them a great deal,” Brett says. Through a change collection campaign and raffle ticket sales, the Ellens raised $6,000 at three Los Angeles Kings games this year for Camp TKO.

Nearly 200 volunteers lent their time collecting donations.

The Turn Kindness On network started with friends of the Ellens.

“We can always rely on them and they all have kind hearts so I know they’ll always help us,” says Tristen, “and it’s always good to have more help to extend the reach of our kindness.”

One such family friend is Cole Shulklapper, 13, of Chatsworth. He has been part of the sandwich-making assembly line for nine years.

“It really makes their lives easier,” he says of the homeless people his volunteering benefits. “Just one meal for them is like us getting $1,000.”

The Ellen boys plan to keep living according to these values they’ve learned from their parents.

“I’ll do this for the rest of my life, my kids will do this and their kids will too,” Keanu says.

To learn more about Turn Kindness On and how to volunteer, click here.