'Use Our Grief For Good': Friends Create Curated Care Package Business
NEW LENOX, IL — Two former colleagues who grew into friends are bringing a very special idea to fruition. Inspired by a bond forged through life’s trials, celebrations and challenges, the two have transformed their shared experiences into a business to help others.
Kelly Hickey, of New Lenox, and Katelyn Walker, of Frankfort, first met as special education teachers in an Orland Park school district. They leaned on each other through life experiences, finding comfort and sharing joy. Their time together as teachers came to a close, but a partnership had taken root.
“We both were thrown a lot of curveballs over the last five years we’ve known each other,” Hickey said. “… We’ve been through many highs and lows. We started to talk about how to support similar milestones, and helping other people support their loved ones in the same way. That’s kind of how Compassion Packed Gift Co. was born.”
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The pair felt compelled to create a way of providing the same support and compassion that had pulled each of them through so much.
“I speak for myself—a lot of times it’s hard to ask for help, we don’t know how someone can help us,” said Walker. “… Something that you can buy, leave on somebody’s doorsteps, that they know that they’re cared for and loved.”
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Walker and Hickey began exploring the idea of curated gift boxes. Each custom-packed box contains items they’ve hand-picked for the recipient and the occasion.
“We designed the boxes from experiences we’ve gone through ourselves,” Hickey said. “We make sure the items are purposeful and chosen with intent, because they’re things that we’ve lived and know what can be helpful in supporting someone.”
Boxes range in purpose from new baby and parent boxes, caregiver support, sympathy and loss, get well, chemo support, adoption, new home and holiday collections. After months of design for the initial products, Compassion Packed will celebrate its soft launch on Oct. 11.
The concept took some time to come into focus for the pair. They knew they wanted to start a business, but weren’t quite sure what it would be.
Walker, who welcomed daughter Ellie in November 2023, said much of her inspiration comes from her own experience as a new mom.
“When people would leave something on the doorstep, it brightened my days,” Walker said. “We want to be able to bring this happiness, this joy, this support to people. It’s just nice to know that you have somebody thinking of you. We want to be able to treat people that they know they’re loved, and they’re supported.”
Hickey’s motivation flows from another source: her children. Two of Hickey’s three children have Down syndrome.
“I would say the seed was initially planted to start a business someday that would employ people of all abilities, when I welcomed my two children who have Down syndrome into my family,” Hickey said. “Dreaming that one day we would have something that would provide them opportunities.
“I had no idea what that would look like, or when that would come to fruition. We just kept living our lives, and figured when the time was right it would come to us.”
Their vision is to one day provide a workshop space that can create employment opportunities for people of all abilities. In the meantime, they plan to create partnerships with local transition and adult day programs to highlight the talents of our community members with intellectual and developmental disabilities—spreading the message of acceptance and inclusion through their gift boxes.
They plan to release the full collection of boxes slowly, first starting with a holiday box featuring a gingerbread collection, a teacher/educator box, new baby box, and a caregiver/healing box. The latter, for example, will include tea, an eye-shaped pillow, essential oil roll-on, a mug, lemon honey lollipops, and a book Walker was gifted in a time of need.
“The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse,” Walker said. “It’s really something that you can turn the page at any time, and it will most likely be able to fit the current situation.”
Also included in the boxes will be greeting cards hand-drawn by Hickey’s children Sofija, 9, and Tadija, 8.
“We’ll be slowly releasing new options, continuously working with other people,” Hickey said. “There’s so many circumstances, we want to make sure we get it right.”
They also plan to partner with other small businesses.
“We are looking for other businesses that are making an impact in the community, so that we’re also supporting other small businesses, as well,” Hickey said.
Following its soft launch on Oct. 11, Compassion Packed will also appear at the Chicagoland Buddy Walk, Oct. 13 in Bolingbrook. The event is run by parents and families of individuals with Down syndrome. The 1-mile walk supports local individuals and groups involved with making a better life in the Down syndrome world.
“It means a lot to me,” Walker said. “It’s an incredible opportunity for us to be there, and people to come out and see what we have.”
Hickey said they’re trying to build the business gradually, though their hearts are all-in.
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“We just have such big dreams for what this can be, and it’s checking ourselves into reality, and knowing that it’s going to take us time to get there,” she said. “Our dream is to have a workshop space or storefront where we have people of all abilities working alongside us. All four of our children working alongside each other. I know we’re so eager, that’s our passion.”
A website for Compassion Packed Gift Co. will be live by Oct. 11, displaying options available during the soft launch. Initially, they will offer pick-up and local delivery to Frankfort, Manhattan, Mokena, New Lenox, and Orland Park—but they welcome pickup orders from anywhere. They aim to begin shipping orders in the new year.
They just didn’t want to wait to share their gifts.
“We just really wanted to be sure we could get out there for the holiday season, really reach and meet the community to get started,” Hickey said. “This business has just come so naturally for us because our hearts are in it. It’s something we’ve lived, it’s something we’re still working through. It’s helping us use our grief for good.
“It’s been such a blessing, such an outlet for us. We have so much more for us to give, it’s just going to take us time to get to that point.”
For more information about Compassion Packed Gift Co., email [email protected].
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