we'd like to introduce you to

the gang

about us

The Spread Sunshine Gang believes the world needs more love, happiness, forgiveness and kindness. We are a motley crew of hard-working people who make time to spread a little sunshine. Through random acts of kindness and dedication to paying it forward we create events for others to do the same.

gang leaders

Nickie Kromminga Hill

President of Sunshine

Nickie started The Spread Sunshine Gang in February 2013 as a way to deal with her depression and anxiety and as a way for she and her friends to beat the Minnesota Winter Blues. (Nickie promises that she is much more fun than this bio is starting out!) Throughout the years she has realized more and more her community needs a way to creatively give back to others and here we are!

In addition to heading up the Gang, Nickie likes to do and be many other things. Nickie holds a K-12 Theatre/Dance license and loves sharing the joy of performing arts with her "kids." She is also a freelance performer and loves being on-stage, singing and dancing her heart out. Nickie has been seen on many Twin Cities stages, most notably at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre where she has been in 18 productions. In addition she loves learning new things and is currently studying happiness and kindness.

The best things in her life are her hubby Paul and their doggo, Trooper. They are a small and happy family. The Hills' favorite activities are hanging out at home in sweats while eating delicious food and sampling local beer (Trooper doesn't drink the beer.)

Nickie is so grateful for the support of family and friends as she ventures into small-business-land with The Spread Sunshine Gang!
It feels good to do good.

Sarah Matthews

Sunshine Coordinator

Sarah is a native Iowan (Go Hawks!) living near the shores of Lake Nokomis with her husband and pug. She is passionate about a great many things, amongst them are the Iowa State Fair, gardening, traveling, enjoying a cold slice of watermelon and figuring out how to avoid traffic . She spends her days (when not stuck in traffic), working for a non-profit hospice as their volunteer coordinator and dreaming of her next adventure, owning some land and a hobby farm! Their family motto is: Find adventure in everyday life!

Sarah joined the gang leaders after she and her super-awesome hubby Chris, came to TSSG's "Bundle Up, MN" event in January of 2017. TSSG thought Sarah was cool, and Sarah though TSSG was cool and now they all live happily ever after.

Julie MacIver Venhuizen

Duluth Captain of Kindness

Julie and Nickie go way back to Julie's days of being a fresh-faced actor in Minneapolis, MN after earning her super useful degree in theatre from U of M, Duluth. (Which is incidentally where she met V.P. Tim!) The journey of an actor is not a straight line and after almost a decade, Julie found herself back in Duluth (her hometown) with her husband, Mark, and their daughter, Holland. This was supposed to be a temporary move, but it turns out, Duluth is a cool city and has everything the Venhuizens need and more!

These days, Julie "officially" works part-time with the South St. Louis Soil & Water Conservation District. The rest of her time is managing the household and making sure everyone is where they need to be! Julie has a passion for the environment, which, for her, translates into walks and runs by Lake Superior and enjoying time at the backyard fire pit. The whole family is still involved in theatre and loves when they get to do shows together. Having a teenager in the house makes things a little crazy but there is still ALWAYS time for traveling and doing new fun things!

Another passion of Julie's is positivity! Seeing all the awesome positive events and messages TSSG hosts and posts motivated Julie to reach out to Nickie! We are still looking for our groove and what TSSG Duluth will look like, but Julie is super pumped to spread some sunshine to the northland!

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Tim Sparks

V.P. of Sunshine

Tim and Nickie first met back in the summer of 1995 at Valleyfair! They performed together for about 6 years in the Live Shows department. From there, Tim went on to work for Royal Caribbean Productions as a Review Cast Singer on cruise ships, which consequently instilled his love of travel! In 2004, he transitioned over to a land job with Park West Gallery as an art dealer. After finally getting his land-legs back, he went back to work on cruise ships as a VIP Event Associate for the gallery. After another six years at sea, he transitioned BACK to a land job with Park West, leaving cruise ships behind for good (he thinks....). In the spring of 2017, he started a new position at The Creative Partners Group in Minneapolis, and for the time being, there are no cruise ships in his immediate future! Tim and his partner, James, currently reside in St. Croix Falls, WI with their two min-pin fur babies, Scout & Glitch.

Tim has been completely inspired by his friend Nickie to see the good in everyday situations, and to try to spread happiness through daily random acts of kindness and other charitable initiatives. In his spare time, he still loves to travel, watches too many cooking shows (and tries very hard to recreate things that are WAY past his abilities), and ends up eating out a lot because of this. He occasionally still performs with the Hill-Murray School Alumni Choir, and is also an active board member for the Hill-Murray Pioneer Foundation for the Performing Arts.

Paul Hill

Sunshine Support

Like the rest of the Gang Leaders, Paul isn't quite sure what his title means, and that's ok. Paul helps out TSSG in any way that's needed: driver, hauler, cheer-leader, brain-stormer, whatever TSSG might need, Paul is willing to help out! Plus, he's married to the Pres.

When not spreading sunshine, Paul does a bunch of other stuff as well! He is a freelance percussionist which means he gets to bang on the drums all day. He is currently employed in the pit at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre (where he met Nickie,) and also frequently plays with the Minnesota Orchestra and MN Opera. He is the proud father of Trooper the super-dog and loves living in Richfield.

sunshine ambassadors

A Sunshine Ambassador is a person who loves spreading sunshine and has made a commitment to TSSG. Sunshine Ambassadors commit to 3 or more TSSG events a year, help spread the word about our group and are generally fabulous humans!
Interested in becoming an Ambassador? Let us know!