"Living on Caring Avenue.

Our hearts know exactly what to do.

You give to me, I give to you.

We're living on Caring Avenue."

—from "Character Counts! Strikes a Chord," the latest children's CD by Dave Kinnoin.

A recent trip to the home of South Pasadena resident Dave Kinnoin found the lean, spiky-haired singer-songwriter in his garage, wielding not a guitar, but a hammer.

Kinnoin was making work tables for the nonprofit One Small House organization, whose members help residents in impoverished areas of Mexico build homes, women's shelters, health and community centers. Kinnoin, a board member, joins the building crews there several times a year, sometimes accompanied by his two teenage sons and his wife Mary Kincaid, a Paramount executive.

"I love music, but I also love building stuff," Kinnoin said. "In both cases, you see the result of your labor, and you get an 'attaboy' for it." When families who have been living in a shack  "end up with a beautiful house and say, 'muchas gracias,' I love that praise and encouragement, I'll admit it."

Despite a successful 25-year career as a songwriter specializing in children's music writing for Disney, the Muppets, Sesame Workshop, his own Song Wizard Records and many other companies — while earning Parents Choice Foundation and National Association Parenting Publications awards — Kinnoin devotes a good chunk of his time to giving back.

Besides his work with One Small House, Kinnoin has been involved with the Jeffrey Foundation for at-risk and special needs children since 1972. He also periodically serves his father's World War II-era meatloaf recipe ("I call it Monster Meatloaf because it has everything in it," Kinnoin said) at the local Ronald McDonald House.

Kinnoin and his songwriting partners have contributed songs to the Edmund D. Edelman Dependency Court's "Comfort for Court Kids" program and the Songs of Love Foundation, which provides seriously ill children with a personalized song.

Years ago, Kinnoin took on legal responsibility for a five-year-old boy named Tony whom he met at the Jeffrey Foundation. Now an adult, Tony, who has cerebral palsy and learning disabilities, lives independently with Kinnoin's help and is part of The Kids of Widney High, a group of developmentally disabled adults who record music and recently published a comic book, "The Kids of Widney High-Beyond the Sky's the Limit," that Kinnoin's company helped fund.

"Tony Whitfield is a remarkable guy," Kinnoin says. "I would not be the man I am today without him. And he's a head-banging, hard rock fanatic. His favorite group is Kiss. We've gone to I don't know how many Kiss concerts from way back. All the guys in the band know Tony now."

It's not surprising then, that Kinnoin's most recent musical project was developed in partnership with the nonprofit Josephson Institute of Ethics' Character Counts! program, which encourages more than 8 million school children to incorporate into their lives "The Six Pillars of Character: Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring and Citizenship."

On his new CD, "Character Counts! Strikes a Chord," Kinnoin wrote songs to illustrate each "Pillar," wrapping inspiring messages in catchy melodies and singing each track in his signature expressive pop tenor.

As the interview progresses in his backyard music studio, Kinnoin punctuates the conversation with excerpts from some of his bouncy, heart-felt songs, alternately playing an upright piano and a favorite acoustic guitar as he sings. He praises his many songwriting partners and credits his wife Mary with "my best lyric lines."

Kinnoin was drawn to the Josephson Institute, headed by ethicist and founder Michael Josephson, by the messages the organization seeks to impart about living a life that matters, he said, "and making choices that respect other human beings and help make this a better world."

Before he wrote the songs, Kinnoin went through the Institute's training seminar, "and I learned a couple of things. For example, if I had to sacrifice one 'Pillar' to honor another, would the person involved be ok with my decision or would they think I acted selfishly or meanly?

"Just that simple rule…I mean, I don't drive myself crazy with every move I make, but it's part of me now and I think about it. I'm not going to live forever," he added. "I want to leave knowing that I did something to make things better."

Kinnoin will begin touring a new performance program built around his "Character Counts!" CD in September 2011.