Meet Kevin
Kevin
Neighbor first.
Mayor, playfully.
Kevin didn’t set out to start a charity, a movement, or anything else that required a title.
He just has a hard time minding his own business when somebody could use a hand.
He’s the guy who notices the person standing off to the side. The neighbor who could use some help. The artisan whose work deserves to be seen. The person having the kind of week where one unexpected act of kindness might change the whole temperature of it.
Sometimes that means groceries. Sometimes a ride, a phone call, a connection, or helping somebody figure out where to turn next. Sometimes it means buying something beautiful from an artisan in Taxco. And sometimes it’s just making sure somebody knows they haven’t become invisible.
Easy to find
Look for the helpers.
Fred Rogers taught generations of us to look for the helpers.
Kevin figures that if people are supposed to look for them, the least a helper can do is make the search a little easier.
A little energy, a lot of color, and hopefully a helping hand when you need one.Puptown is Kevin’s attempt to make that instinct a little more intentional: know the neighbors, listen first, connect people who can help one another, and create a few simple ways to turn ordinary purchases into something useful for somebody else.
Kevin lives in Chicago with his partner, Fidel, and Bella and Luna—two very small dogs who have contributed absolutely nothing financially but remain senior management.
The title Mayor of Puptown is a joke.
The welcome is not.
And nobody here is a project.
Everybody is a neighbor.
Plainly speaking
What Puptown actually is
Puptown is a small, independently run Chicago neighborhood project started by Kevin and funded personally and through projects including Taxco Treasures and Neighborly Glow. It is beginning close to home, one block and one relationship at a time.
Puptown is not currently a registered nonprofit. Purchases and other support are not tax-deductible charitable donations.
Required costs, taxes, materials, and ordinary business expenses get paid. The goal is to put what Puptown can reasonably generate back to work helping people.
There’s no promise that Puptown can solve every problem or help everyone who asks. It isn’t an emergency service, a government program, or a substitute for professional resources.
It’s one neighbor trying to know more neighbors, use what he has responsibly, and make it a little easier for people to find one another when somebody could use a hand.