WHERE YOUR KiSS GOES

Suzanne, Thank you for ordering the Give A KiSS program from KiSS Identity.

My name is Ron Hatfield, Executive Director of In Our Own Quiet Way, and we are very grateful to be associated with KiSS Identity. We have formed this alliance to provide KiSS Identity members access to a variety of inspiring humanitarian initiatives we have underway (see below).

In Giving this KiSS, you are forgoing your personal products and are actively providing essential educational supplies to children in Africa who will truly appreciate them. Your Give a KiSS purchase provides many items such as pencils, chalk, chalkboards, paper, notepads, textbooks, uniforms and other essential supplies for learning that these children simply do no have.

QUIET WAY-WHAT ALL THE NOISE IS ABOUT

Quiet Way's mission is centered on the organization of sponsors, charities, individuals, and communities to work together to address various compelling needs. We discuss and prioritize these issues with appropriate representatives and community leaders; research and engage charities and other entities that specialize in resolving those needs; facilitate direct collaboration; and help fund the work as the communities need supplementation. This approach helps to avoid duplication and/or inefficient allocation of resources and it provides a clear direction to solve whatever problems the region is facing.

Whenever possible, we create a video record of the event and provide it to the sponsors to SHOW how the money actually blesses people's lives, always highlighting the valuable contributors involved. An example of this is our current work in Kenya. There is a severe famine underway there, caused by drought, and a need to avoid the impact of drought in the future. Adequate education of the people-as well as emergency, "here and now" help-is needed to be able to make better use of what resources they do have.

We are traveling again to Kenya to deliver several containers of donated food, clothing, and medical supplies. The funds for this were collected from our Annual Princess Festival fundraiser, donors, and our corporate partners-including Kiss Identity. The food will be delivered though the Kalonzo Foundation and Beacon International, two charities that specialize in food distribution. It will be delivered to elementary schools where children will get a bowl of food when they arrive and another when they leave. When they go home, they will be given a daily supply for their family.

Two corporate sponsors are also funding several 40-acre reservoirs in drought-stricken areas. This is being accomplished in conjunction with volunteer engineers and their parent companies. This project is organized and supervised by Quiet Way but inspected and approved by the Kenyan water districts, carrying on our tradition of working hand-in-hand with local bodies. Nobody knows what they need like the people who need it.

SPRING FORWARD

Our Spring Mission provided enough pencils and books to outfit 22 Kenyan schools for an entire year. Many of these supplies were donated from surplus American educational district inventories and private vendors. Before our intervention, these schools had empty libraries, only one pencil per class to share, and an allocation of one sheet of paper per child per week.

The medical supplies delivered were in support of HART, a medical charity that specializes in free orthopedic and plastic surgeries. Their next annual mission in Kenya will take place in November and a dental expedition is also being planned for 2010.

Having perfected this unique model of giving, Quiet Way is now reviewing projects in Haiti, Nigeria, Portland, Detroit, and Appalachia. Thank you for "Sharing a KiSS" and stay tuned to the Kiss Identity website to watch your purchase truly contribute to making this world a better place.

Ron Hatfield, CEO, Quietway.org