Text Box: Kids Against Hunger of Rock CountyRotaryRotaryText Box: President’s Message Text Box: Hi Everyone, It has been a few months since my last email and with all that has been going I have all sorts of wonderful news to relay to those who have continued to support our little organization over the last two years.  I hope you enjoy this long email as much as I have drafting it. First, I will start out with a "Happy 2nd Anniversary" announcement.  Yes, it has been just two short years since we began this venture.  Little did any of us know at that time what Kids Against Hunger - Rock County Rotary, Inc. would have become today.  To simplify it all I will break it down by numbers: Year                        Packaging Events        # of Volunteers      Meals Packaged 2008                          19                            475                        99,174         2009                          48                        1,214                        216,064 2010-through March          36                      1,102                        161,388 Totals                        103                      2,791                        476,616 Wow!  And each one of you have played a part in each of these numbers, thank you so much. Next is the distribution of all of these meals.  We have been so fortunate to have many distribution channels who have found a source for all of these highly nutritious meals.  Locally, we have and continue to provide to all the local food pantries within Rock County, including Caritas, ECHO, Edgerton Community Outreach, AWARE, Salvation Army (Beloit & Janesville), along with a few smaller ones in outlining communities.  Nationally, we have distributed smaller amounts, fortunately for quite some time, there has not been any major events that have warranted the need for our meals, like the flood of 2008.  Internationally, we have sent over 140,000 meals to Cameroon, Africa which has been distributed by Paul Mickelson (retired firefighter from Beloit, founder of Paul's Computer Institute in Cameroon) and his staff and we hope to continue to add to this number in the years to come.  Most recently, with what we packaged along with over 150,000 meals we received from two other KAH satellites, we were able to ship an entire semi-trailer (285,000 meals) down to Haiti.  Those meals should be reaching their destination very soon and will be distributed to thousands of the earthquake victims through Lifeline Christian Mission.  This last effort to Haiti was completed in just over one month, the local support of this initiative was tremendous.  We also received a lot of great media attention. As for the finances, we have asked and collectively you have responded.  As you may already know we have no paid staff and thanks to KANDU Industries we pay no rent or utilities for our facility, therefore the vast majority of the funds we collect (approximately 95%) goes directly towards the purchase and shipment of our meals.  The donations have come from many different sources, individuals like yourself, schools, churches, businesses, grants and our main support groups-the 4 Rotary Clubs in Rock County (Beloit, Edgerton, Janesville Morning & Noon).  I would like to extend a special thanks to Stephen Vicenzi and Vitech International for the tremendous amount of financial support they have provided over the last two years, this included a $3,500 donation to cover our shipping expense for the container destined for Haiti.  And to think this is has all happened during one of the worst recessions of our time.  Without the dollars that have been received none of what has been accomplished would have been possible.  Thank you all and continue to keep us in mind when you are donating to worthwhile nonprofit organizations, all gifts are tax deductible.  We have and will continue to account for all dollars and make sure they are used in the most efficient manner possible to help the vast number of people in need of nutritious food.  A $20 donation will feed a hungry child for over 6 months. As of this last week KAH-RCR has taken grand step.  We purchased an 11x17 foot trailer to take our operation mobile.  So I am not contradicting the previous statements about financial accountability, I am happy to let you know the majority of the funds came from a Rotary Grant and additional donations specifically earmarked for this initiative.  It will be wrapped with our logo/phone number and serve the dual purpose of a mobile billboard.  In order to make it economical we will have specific guidelines as to the size of the mobile events we will be using this for in the future.  Please keep this in mind for your future group events, more information will be available in the future but keep an eye out for our colorful mobile billboard.  We will also be very interested in locations whereby we can park it and provide maximum exposure. Lastly, I would be remiss if I did not comment on a group of individuals who have been the heart, soul and passion of KAH-RCR, this is the Board of Directors and Packaging Coordinators.  I could go on and on about what they have meant to the success of our satellite but would likely leave something or someone out.  This core group of volunteers have consistently met the calling and continued to recruit others.  All of their efforts have been from the heart and without hesitation.  But as large as this group has become we always welcome more, if you feel the passion that so many of us have about Kids Against Hunger please contact me and I would be happy to share with you a number of other ways to help our mission. I know this has been a lengthy email but as you can see we have a lot of positive information to share.  We will continue to reach out to all of you with our quarterly e-newsletter but if you would like more up-to-date information become a Fan of Kids Against Hunger - Rock County Rotary on our Facebook page or log onto our website at www.rotarykidsagainsthunger.com.  Once again, thank you for all of your past support and we look forward to seeing you at a future packaging event. "Local People (continuing to) Making A World Of Difference" Respectfully,

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