About Us
In 2014, high school English teacher Kristina Ulmer faced an unimaginable loss; her younger sister and only sibling, Katie Amodei, died in a car accident. In the days that followed, Kristina found herself holding onto Kate’s wallet, still filled with the cash her sister had earned as a waitress on the morning of her death. Unsure what to do with it, she tucked it away for four years, until inspiration finally struck.
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Kristina exchanged her sister’s cash for $20 bills and gave one to each of her students with the challenge to spend it on an act of kindness. Initially stunned, the students soon responded with a beautiful cascade of good deeds. They made meals for the hungry and care packages for the military, knitted hats for premature babies, sewed fun pillowcases for children battling cancer, and passed out donuts to strangers on a street corner. Each kind act culminated in a thoughtful video diary reflection of how the act of kindness changed them.​
Kristina Ulmer with her sister, Katie Amodei.
What began as a single classroom project quickly grew into something bigger. Word spread, donations followed, and the $20 Kindness Challenge became a movement. Kristina’s students have now carried out more than $7,500 worth of kindness projects, fully funded by donations, leaving a lasting impact not only on the community but also on the young people who learn firsthand how deliberate and thoughtful acts of kindness positively impact themselves and society.
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Sparked by national media coverage and increasing interest from teachers across the country, the $20 Kindness Challenge Foundation was established in 2025. Today, the foundation’s mission is twofold: to continue funding students’ acts of kindness at Hatboro-Horsham High School in Horsham, PA, and to provide teachers across the country with the funds and resources to bring the kindness challenge to their own schools.
Kristina Ulmer in her classroom