Since founding the Impossible Kids Foundation in early 2026, Samantha McKillop has been dedicated to bringing diverse educational programs to children.
McKillop, who started the foundation in Brantford and is its President, explained why she decided to create the non-profit.
“We started this nonprofit because we noticed that there wasn’t a lot of neurodivergent or educational programming free to the community for children. We wanted to focus more on life skills, focus training, and leadership training. One of our major mottos is trying to get children to lead in the community and teaching them how to do that,” she said. “Eventually, we are hoping to get mentorships throughout the community for children to help and guide them through that. That way, when they hit high school (because our demographic is five to 12), they have a guide of where they’d like to go, because that’s when they start thinking about what job they want.”
However, McKillop brings a wealth of both professional and personal experience to the table.
“I’m an early childhood educator, and I recently found out that not just my children, but myself as well, have ADHD. When it came to going through the school systems, trying to get support, and understanding what we were going through, I noticed there wasn’t really a lot available unless you paid for programs or received a prescription from a doctor. There were hoops to go through, doctor testing, and paid testing on top of free testing. It’s a confusing and really hard process. Having a platform to help other parents through that, like our ADHD parenting circles, allows us to share information, help guide parents through the process, and teach them ways to organize, focus, and plan their lives,” McKillop explained.
And when developing the foundation, McKillop received a lot of encouragement and support from Dr. Christina Han, who is Director of Education of EduColor Press and a professor at Laurier Brantford. Han also currently chairs the foundation as well.
“Christina is the most amazing woman ever and gave me the opportunity to be able to do this. She has continued to help me go through the processes of growing the foundation, [and] and has also given me ideas on programs, and reviews my work to make sure it is good. I came to her with the idea—actually, we were working together making workshops for children and wanted to do more—so we came up with the idea and we’re running with it,” she noted.
While there are programs for children throughout the community, McKillops recognized a need for more specific ones.
“We don’t work a lot with the government because we’re new. There are programs out there, like Woodview (Mental Health and Autism Services) and Lutherwood (now Starling Community Services), but not a lot of programs where children label themselves as leaders and try to make change in the world through simple actions and controlling themselves and their actions. There are a lot of teaching programs, doctor visits, and tool-sharing programs where they give you information and off you go. But we’re trying to make something that lasts longer than that,” she stated.
Nevertheless, Impossible Kids Foundation continues to develop and provide various unique programs.
“Currently, we have the Focus Explorer and the Focus Trailblazer programs. We are always telling kids to focus, focus, focus…but we don’t teach them what that is or how to actually focus. We’ve built a program where children learn notice, name, and change, so they can notice their triggers, name it, and then we provide them with tools and opportunities to try and use those tools to manage their distractions. We also have a Global Adventures program. There aren’t many classes out there to teach you about cultures around the world. A big thing we’re learning in Canada is that we have cultures from everywhere, and the better we can understand how other people live their lives, the better we can learn about them,” she said. “Every week we would go to a different continent and check out different cultures and cities around the world. Then we have our adult-focused program, where we teach adults how to focus, manage distractions, handle emotions, and deal with overload. We also host the ADHD parenting circle on Monday mornings, where we get together, have coffee, share tips and tools, and have a safe space to talk about the struggles we face at home as ADHD or other parents.”
While there have been challenges in getting the foundation off the ground, there have been a fair share of highlights too.
“Some of the early highlights include getting into a meeting with all the neighborhood associations in Brantford, so we will hopefully start providing free after-school and after-work programs in the community for families and children. Another highlight is watching children do and learn from the programs, and seeing them use the things I and others are teaching them. Some of the challenges have been getting an audience and spreading the word,” McKillop stated. “However, we go to as many fundraisers as we can, such as the Teddy Bear Picnic and Harvest Fest. We are also running the Kids’ Adventure Passport through town, which is a free family activity that can be picked up at the library or Wayne Gretzky Centre. You visit locations, do a small activity with your children, get a signature, and we email you a free reward for adventuring around Brantford. We’d like to bring small businesses out as well.”
The foundation also offers various membership packages to meet the needs of parents and their children.
“We have a regular membership that you can apply for or purchase online through our website. Included in that membership is a 15% off our regular-run programs [and] because we are just starting out, our programs currently require payment, though we try to work with families when we can. Also, members get early access to programs before the public does, a membership award, and one free membership event party per year. Honestly, I tell people that the benefit isn’t exactly for them, but for other children in the community, because the money we get from memberships is used to buy supplies and provide as many free programs as we can,” she explained.
One of the more exciting aspects to the foundation has been McKillop’s desire to build connections with other organizations and businesses in the community to further the foundation’s reach.
“We are working with Organized Kaos to potentially blend our programming together. We are also working with the SPCA to make educational content and programs, and with the Ancaster Rotary Club to hopefully run events through the Ancaster Fairgrounds soon. We are working with neighborhood associations, particularly the Brantford Station Neighborhood Association. The Brantford Fire Department is coming to our Kids Works event to hand out educational information and guide us through our firefighter course, “she noted. “We also have featured sponsors, Enterprise Brand and EduColor. EduColor World is the banner company, and we work alongside EduColor Press, a company that makes educational activity books for children. We’ve done workshops based on these books, which include a story, a coloring page, and a reflection afterwards to get families working through the book together.”
The foundation has also worked with two other organizations to grow.
“We received a grant through Enterprise Brand to help run the Kids Works workshop and the Kids’ Adventure Passport. We also work with the Brantford Business Resource Center. Every time we put out a Kids’ Adventure Passport, they provide a sponsorship for printing and distributing them, and include a page specifically for downtown businesses. We want to bring a spotlight to the downtown area because it’s a wonderful place that isn’t visited often enough,” she noted.
In early 2026, the foundation participated in the successful Kids Adventure Expo, in Brantford.
“It was so much fun. There were bouncy castles, vendors, small businesses, and entertainers, including Jones Dance dancers and a magician. There were educational workshops for children based on books read at the expo. The turnout was wonderful, and parents loved walking around, checking out the food vendors, and enjoying the day,” she stated.
One of the programs that McKillop has been trying to consistently run has been the Kids’ Adventure Club.
“We were trying…and are still trying, to get the Kids’ Adventure Club started so we could have kids’ groups, though it has been put on the back burner for now. We did two books for the club; the first was Fairy Tales Around the World. We picked three stories from the book, did crafts based on them, and encouraged children to speak about their crafts and give a little demonstration to build confidence and leadership. The kids absolutely love it,” McKillop explained. “I’d like to see the Kids’ Adventure Club to be like a Club Scouts group where kids grow together, coming together on Saturday mornings knowing they have a group of friends to learn something new with, explore a new book or craft, and feel comfortable to come and be themselves. I also want to make our focus programs parent-child centric so they can learn together and feel a sense of accomplishment.”
However, McKillop has learned quite a bit from the experience of creating the foundation as well as key goals.
“Something I’d love to improve on is pinpointing what each child needs when building a program. Every child learns differently, so adjusting to each need is essential but hard because you have to build rapport first. I also want to find the right mix of educational and fun material without too many crafts or too much paperwork. Ads are also the hardest thing to do, knowing what the target audience wants, and dealing with insane online comments by just moving on and doing better,” she reflected. “Long-term goals include establishing business mentorship partnerships for children in Brantford and securing sponsorships throughout the community to run as many free programs as possible, building a community where all children and people are change-makers and leaders. Short-term goals are to get awareness out that we’re here, so we can identify the community’s best needs and support them.”
For an upcoming event, Impossible Kids Foundation will be hosting one focused on careers.
“It’s like a careers event for kids where they can experience being in a professional area and learn about different careers. We’re having a vet, firefighters, a pilot, a chef, and a hairstylist there, and kids will be given an activity at each station that mirrors what those professions do daily. It gives kids a future, a direction, an awareness of nearby careers, and the ability to dream about their future while doing something educational and fun instead of playing video games,” she said.
However, McKillops explained the importance of having a foundation like Impossible Kids in Brantford, Brant County, and Six Nations.
“I think it’s important because we all sit around and say this generation doesn’t have guidance, and we want to give them that guidance. We want to make them the best possible person they can be, give families a chance to grow and learn together, and provide a place where they can educate themselves, feel good about themselves, and learn how amazing each child and family is and how far they can go,” she said.
