Carolyn Kaiser poses with Center co-founder Morris Dees by the Civil Rights Memorial. She visited the Center after raising funds for its work. (contributed)

"I'm not afraid to ask for money," Kaiser said. "I asked for donations by sending out e-mails, mailing letters and carrying flyers around with me. If you strike up a conversation about it, people usually get pretty interested."

Kaiser, her brother Kevin Kaiser, and friends Erik Kolacz, David Kroeger and Heather Weiss, formed "Team Tolerance" and decided to run together in the Chicago marathon on October 12, 2003, with the goal of raising awareness and financial support for the Center's work.

Though Kaiser was injured and ended up not being able to participate, she continued her fundraising efforts to the end.

"The work that the Center is doing is so important, especially the Teaching Tolerance program. With everything that's going on, from the war in Iraq to the murder of Matthew Shepard, it's really important to get the right messages out to kids. That message will carry forward more if you can reach kids at younger ages," Kaiser said.

Kaiser has put the ideals of the Teaching Tolerance program to work in her own community by serving as a youth minister at Sacred Heart Church for the past six years. In her work with the teens, she's found the free resources provided by Teaching Tolerance to be especially helpful.

"These are minority kids, so they've experienced some of the discrimination that's covered in the Teaching Tolerance material, and they can really relate to it," she said.

Kaiser ran her first two marathons with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training program, which provides participants with coaching for a marathon and asks them to raise money for the organization in return. When she started to prepare for her third marathon, she decided to put her running and fundraising skills to use for a new cause.

"My inspiration came from an SPLC Report article about someone else who had done a marathon to raise support for the Center," she said. "I was trying to decide what other organization to raise money for, and then here was this newsletter with the answer right in front of me."

After the marathon, Kaiser and her parents, who are also Center donors, had the opportunity to travel to Montgomery, Alabama, to tour the Center's offices and meet Morris Dees.

Kaiser was born in Alabama while her father was working as a math professor at Tuskegee University, and the family enjoyed the chance to return to the area.

"I've always felt a strong connection to Alabama because of the Civil Rights Movement and the history there," Kaiser said. "Meeting Morris Dees was an amazing experience because I've read so much about him, and I idolize him and his work."

"Everyone here at the Center is so proud of Carolyn's success and appreciative of her efforts to support our work," said Dees. "She's made a personal commitment to promoting tolerance that has touched, and will continue to touch, many lives."

SPLC Report
June 2004