About

History of the Kyle Fleischmann Foundation

The Kyle Fleischmann Foundation was founded during the late fall of 2007 as the result of Kyle Fleischmann’s disappearance in Charlotte, North Carolina on November 9, 2007.

Kyle’s close friends and family worked passionately to spread the word about Kyle’s disappearance. With little help from the police because of Kyle’s status as an adult male, the group set out on their own to quickly make the public aware of Kyle’s disappearance and how they could help. The vigilant group began to receive help from volunteers, public service agencies, media outlets, and fellow non-profit organizations from all backgrounds. Kyle’s story quickly became nationally recognized and was the local news staple in the greater Charlotte region.

With little information readily available about how to respond when a loved one goes missing, the group became inspired to make sure that families across America who are faced with these tragic circumstances themselves don’t come up against the same struggle. The foundation was then formed to honor the pillars of Kyle’s character; love, service, education, and community. These characteristics help fuel the vision and goal of the foundation to serve families and friends of missing loved ones across the United States.

How does the foundation currently serve the community?

The foundation currently serves the community by focusing on efforts to spread public awareness and education regarding missing adult cases, the severity of this problem in the US today and how to respond and cope with the unfortunate circumstances of having a loved one go missing. In addition to education, KFF will work to provide support to the families of young adults who have recently gone missing with an efficient and steadfast first response brochure.

How will the KFF spread education and awareness throughout the community in the short term?

The KFF will help to educate the public through public events with expert speakers, distributing a first response pamphlet, and the distribution of information through TheKFF.org. The foundation will also host regular events such as golf tournaments, charity road races, silent auctions and raffles, and banquets. These events will not only provide an active and social means for accomplishing the purpose of the foundation, but it will also enable the KFF to unite the community for a specific cause through fun and interactive events and activities.

The Foundation will have speakers travel to high schools, colleges, community groups and church groups to speak about education and prevention of missing adult’s cases in the US. Speakers will include local law enforcement, search and rescue agencies, and other industry professionals to speak about safety, self defense, prevention what to do if a loved one goes missing.

Initially the pamphlet will serve as the main education material of the foundation. It will outline national and local statistics on missing person’s cases and will highlight missing individuals in areas that currently have active cases. It will also help to educate people about certain misnomers related to missing adults cases. The pamphlet will provide the public with a first response system detailing the steps that are necessary to take when faced with this type of tragic event. Distribution of the pamphlet will be done at all fundraising and speaking events, on the website, and will be handed out to parents and students during orientation times at institutions of higher learning and will be displayed noticeably in K-12 school systems.

This website, TheKFF.org, will allow for organized dissemination of information relating to missing adults and the actionable steps that family members can take in the immediate time after a crisis. The website furthers KFF's purpose by informing those in need of the steps that need to be made to help them avoid the additional stress that comes from misinformation, and providing accurate contact information for organizations that will be helpful during initial search efforts. An area of the website will feature news alerts, recent information, local events, and press items to keep the public informed of current events related to KFF’s purpose.

What is the long term vision of the KFF?

The KFF has a broad and fast paced vision that will quickly enable the organization to become a nationwide, household name. Due to the epidemic of missing adults in our country and its widespread severity, the organization hopes to grow its branches far and wide planting seeds in all major metropolitan regions across the country.

In addition to current and short term initiatives, and as a long term goal, the foundation hopes to provide educational grant opportunities for those who have been touched by similar circumstances and have an interest in helping to support the cause for missing young adults. These grants will be made available to undergraduate, graduate, and doctorate students wishing to pursue a career in the non-profit sector eventually aiding and supporting the growth and awareness of missing young adults. As the organization reaches this type of stature it will also provide internship and graduate assistantship programs for students wishing to pursue a career in this field.

Just like national initiatives to support cancer, crime, and youth education; the foundation hopes to make the issue of missing adults a nationally recognized issue that will push for strong and efficient legislation initiatives at local, state, and national levels. In order to accomplish this goal, the foundation aims to establish deep and lasting relationships with these government agencies as well as other community outreach organizations and local businesses so that the KFF’s educational and support activities will unite us as a single community working for this valiant cause.

With the growing problem of missing adults across America and the passion of the KFF to make a significant change across the country, it is with the help of readers like you that this organization has no limits in terms of how we can make a difference.