Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Blog Action Day 08 - Poverty & Beauty





Today Ka Nani Essentials is participating in a unique opportunity of raising awareness in regards to poverty. Through out our company we re-enforce the idea that while beauty is maintained on the outside, beauty is from within. When one is feeling low on the inside it is spread outward towards everything else.

Today I do not want to speak to the numbers & the tragedies of poverty as these are un-numerable, but rather focus on those who are actually taking action and making a difference. Those that are teaching & educating on how to be beautiful on the inside.

Ka Nani Essentials was honored to participate in supporting Alternative For Girls Organization in several of their Awareness Functions & Projects this year. We were able to donate several of our Bath Collection Baskets for a Silent Auction to help raise money for AFG & again in September when we helped support a team project with a delightful Spa Bag and hope to be donating soon some delightful soap bars for the Shelter.

Alternative For Girls is an organization that provides shelter, intervention & prevention for at risk, homeless & those who are not being taken care of by State or judicial programs.

Last year alone Alternative For Girls provided near 9,000 nights of loving care to girls, young women and their children.

They enlist the help of the elderly in the community as volunteer foster Grandparents to help provide child care for participating residents. What an idea!!

Alternative For Girls provides Out Reach programs where teams are dispatched to high-risk crime areas & provide information, food, rides to shelter safety for women engaged in self destructive activities such as drugs, prostitution or gang related jobs. They provide education & information on gun violence prevention, alcohol & increasing self-esteem.

Last year alone – they distributed over 26, 837 harm-reduction kits.

One of the best parts about Alternative For Girls that I appreciate so much is their Prevention Program that reaches the span of a girl's life…5-18. Their girls clubs are mentor based with each club having only 2 to 3 girls PER mentor!!! The clubs are interest based & include learning activities that range from gardening, to poetry, to martial arts or whatever else that the girls might be interested in. Alternative For Girls provides home visits to help give girls support even at home!

Alternative For Girls enlists the help of retired teachers that serve as tutors for after school programs & study groups to help girls retain what they have learned. They provide transportation & tours to college campuses.

As I look at all that Alternative For Girls is doing to take action against poverty – I am amazed!! Not only are they meeting women & children where they are at – they are helping to raise the hopes & dreams of those who have let those dreams go. And they are doing it with a mere handful of staff.

Ka Nani Essentials is humbled & honored to help in even the smallest way to support organizations such as Alternative For Girls that are truly taking a stand against poverty & making a difference!!

http://www.alternativesforgirls.org/WishList.html

To get started & make a difference above is a link of things that Alternative For Girls organization needs – even if it is a small item that you can give – you are making a difference in helping to stamp out poverty. For as you do these things, you are truly helping everyone to “Feel GREAT About Their Beauty!”

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