Empowering students, teachers, parents and administrators for a brighter future.
An experience that delivers inspirational messages of hope and love from young people to young people.
MWAH! Performing Arts Troupe
A catalyst for assisting schools and their surrounding communities in a collaborative effort to empower young people with the knowledge, courage, and strength to deal with life’s personal challenges, thereby changing and saving lives.
The MWAH! Performing Arts Troupe Presents:
“Bouncing Back: A Personal Reflection”
with Landon & Amaria Ballard
Landon & Amaria Ballard know what it’s like to face obstacles—and to overcome them. Landon, a Rockford native, joined the MWAH! (Messages Which Are Hopeful!) Performing Arts Troupe at age 12 in 2011 after the troupe delivered a live performance at a high school in Champaign, Illinois. As a teenager in MWAH!, he performed in live skits and songs focused on such topics as depression, mental health, bullying, racism, and substance abuse at schools across Illinois.
His wife, Amaria, also grew up in Rockford with her own set of challenges. Watch both of them deliver their stories below.
Bureau Valley Welcomes the Ballard Family
Bureau Valley High School Principal Duane Price welcomed Landon and Amaria Ballard to Bureau Valley High School for four assemblies to students on March 16. Landon and Amaria are pictured with their children, Bea and Alivia, and their dog, Blue.
MWAH!’s Landon Ballard addresses teachers, administrators during Illinois Principals Association webinar
MWAH!’s Landon Ballard addresses teachers, administrators during Illinois Principals Association webinar
MWAH!’s Landon Ballard recently had the opportunity to address teachers and administrators across Illinois on the topics of substance use and mental health during a webinar sponsored by the Illinois Principals Association. Landon presented the webinar on Nov. 15, 2022 as part of his outreach to advance MWAH!’s mission of saving and changing lives.
Arlin Peebles, Online Professional Development Coordinator for the Illinois Principals Association, invited Landon to share his experiences in order to help teachers and administrators serve students who might be struggling in the areas of drug and alcohol use as well as mental health.
“We change our behavior when the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of changing. Consequences give us the pain that motivates us to change.”
— Dr. Henry Cloud, clinical psychologist
Messages Which Are Hopeful!
Thanks To Our Partners:
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If you felt the need to donate to this wonderful organization, it would mean the world to all involved.
MWAH! is a 501c3 charitable organization in Illinois under the name KDC / MWAH! (Kids Do Count / Messages Which Are Hopeful!) and is affiliated with the Chicago Area Project, a grass–roots service and advocacy program based in downtown Chicago and part of an Illinois–wide community services network targeting at–risk youth and their families.
“Some stranger somewhere remembers you, because you were kind to them, when no one else was.”
— Ray Moffitt, MWAH! Founder
MWAH! (Messages Which Are Hopeful!) would like to recognize Professor Ivan Medina, his social work graduate students, and the Loyola University Chicago School of Social Work for their capacity-building and leadership-development assistance to advance MWAH!’s mission of changing lives and saving lives.