Kelly
Kelly Carlson has lived in many places on the planet. Some for decades and others, just days. In all Kelly’s experiences, the one thing that has remained the same – no matter time, language, or space – is Kelly’s passion for what’s true, and for every child to know it. Today, words are the way Kelly reaches the countries, communities, and corners her feet cannot. In fact, some specific words so wildly disrupted Kelly’s suffering that her pain flipped into her purpose – enabling others to do the same.
When Kelly’s unprecedented difficulties revealed the fragility of her own identity and sense of worth, Kelly discovered the universal truths that pave the way for light to reach the meanest place she’s lived – the dark. These few, true words became the seeds of Project Lightwell® and the means to comfort children who feel alone and afraid.
Kelly reminds others that in a world all wobbly on the stilts of fear and projection, true words are superpowers. They transcend and travel and seep and stay. All people can speak these deposits into others’ hearts. All people need these reminders. And not a single position, age, or wage is exempt from their hope.
“When our value rides on something we could lose tomorrow, like mine did, we are in trouble,” Kelly shares. “Which is why intersecting children’s lives with what will not shake even when their world does, brings healing and security. It gives us a role in the uncontrollable. It trumpets the opposite of circumstance. Over and over, this intersection physically, emotionally, and relationally grants a steady hope. I know, because it has done so in my life. And it still does, every time I watch these truths reach the space of a child.”
Kelly lives in Delaware, Ohio with her husband Ben and their two amazing, brave, and loved no-matter-what daughters, Sophie and Lucy.