Romi Barta

Romi Barta founded Kid Flicks with her sisters in Spring 2002 when her family was doing some "spring cleaning" and we realized that they had a large collection of videos and DVDs that they had either outgrown or no longer watched.

One of her younger sisters had a friend, Alex, who was diagnosed with Leukemia when she was in first grade. We knew that when Alex was in the hospital receiving her chemotherapy treatments, she watched movies to pass the time, so we donated movies to the hospital where Alex had been treated.

The Child Life Specialist at the hospital was so appreciative and told us that, "movies are the first things children ask for when they are in the hospital." That day, we decided to collect as many videos and DVD's as possible to donate to other hospitals.

Romi wrote letters to friends asking them for video and DVD donations and also organized collection drives at her high school and had her sisters do the same at their elementary school. Romi also solicited movie studios and home entertainment production companies. Additionally, she asked her doctor to advertise for donations for Kid Flicks through her weekly on-line newsletter that gets sent to the 2,000 families in her practice. Donations poured in from the start.

In the last four years, hardly a week has gone by that Kid Flicks hasn't received donations of videos and DVDs. Some donations are small while others are large. Students and parents from other schools have organized annual Kid Flicks Collection drives which usually yield between 500-800 movies. After reading about Kid Flicks in various publications and websites, people have shipped donations from all over the US. In February 2005, Kid Flicks received 501(c) (3) not-for-profit status. Through solicitation letters, grants, and fundraising events, I have been able to raise money to cover 100% of the cost of packing, shipping and insuring each Kid Flicks "movie library" The goal of Kid Flicks is to provide every Children's Hospital and Pediatric Department in the US with a "movie library."