I Love My Community: The Unicorn Society, Where Girls Sparkle and Shine
“Kindness is a sign of a person who has done a lot of personal work and has come to a great self-understanding and wisdom. Choose to be kind over being right and you’ll be right every time, because kindness is a sign of strength.” ~Unknown
Who can doubt the truth of this quote? It’s on the Facebook page of the Random Acts of Kindness Society, the sister organization of The Unicorn Society, started with nine members in 2016 by Monica Rabara and her co-founder, Christina Cortez.
“The initial idea of doing something inclusive came to my co-founder, Christina Cortez, and me at an inclusion conference at UOP,” said Monica. “At the time, I was a special day class teacher and Christina was working toward her teaching credential. With her daughter, Tessa, who has Down syndrome, in mind, we wanted to come up with something fun that could include her and her younger sister, Chloe.”
The duo chose to join a highly recognized organization for girls, with the intention of having girls with special needs and having the ability to partner with surrounding sister groups to serve as mentors. “We quickly realized that it was more difficult to facilitate than we anticipated and we wanted more opportunities for our girls. Within our own circle of friends and family, we knew that we had some amazing mentors that would fit nicely into what we were trying to accomplish,” she described.
Nine members quickly grew to 28 members by 2019. “By this time, we knew that we wanted to branch out and really give our girls more opportunities to participate within the community and the ability to shine in their own ways,” Monica remembered. “In fall 2019, we decided that it was time to do our own thing and our primary focus was on our new club, The Unicorn Society. In addition to The Unicorn Society, we also started our non-profit, Random Acts of Kindness Society, or RAKS.”
RAKS is a group of amazing special educators and their fabulous friends who raise money to fund activities that the Unicorn Society participates in, such as monthly meetings, an adapted version of The Nutcracker, and a Daddy-Daughter Dance, which will be held at the end of May. “RAKS also has the flexibility to fund other special projects within our community, as well as giving our girls the opportunity in giving back,” Monica related. “Most recently, our girls assembled Birthday Boxes that were given to children who are in transitional housing or in foster care. To date we have 34 girls between the ages of 5 and 21 who participate in The Unicorn Society and we continue to grow!”
The Unicorn Society’s mission is to provide girls with special needs opportunities to participate without barriers. “We pride ourselves in creating a social club in a judgment-free, positive environment where ALL girls can thrive. We believe that the mentorship bonds our girls have with their mentors are exceptional and they learn so much from each other.
“Every girl in our club is capable, celebrated, accepted, valued and has the ability to positively impact our community,” Monica continued. “We just need to provide them the opportunities to do so. We are always looking for ways to include our girls in community activities and events, and we have had an incredible amount of support from our community, families and local businesses who have partnered with us.
As some of the Unicorns get older, the founders are focusing on the future of Unicorns and how they can continue to provide meaningful opportunities for the older girls. “We are looking into purchasing a drink cart to start a micro business with which our young ladies with special needs and their mentors can work on communication, vocational skills and job training skills. To get our drink cart up and rolling, we have projected a $45,000 startup that includes the drink cart, trailer and supplies. This cart would be available for rent for small parties, festivals, school events and other community activities,” she said.
The RAKS March crab feed, its most successful yet, funded most of the organization’s expenses for 2024. “We are always open to sponsorships and donations for activities for our girls to participate in. Our website, raksofstockton.com, has a donation link that goes directly to The Unicorn Society account, and 100 percent of a donor’s contribution goes directly to Random Acts of Kindness Society,” Monica concluded.
If you would like more information or are interested in RAKS and the Unicorns, please visit raksofstockton.com.
