May 2008 Angel's Corner Update

Hello everyone and Happy Mother’s Day! - Here we are with new exciting updates.

It is May, Spring has finally arrived and it is the perfect time to celebrate not only Mother’s Day, but the great support The Angel’s Corner keeps receiving.

Once again we have partnered up with Plan Canada to support a very important and timely cause. Part of your contributions has been allocated to support an HIV and AIDS campaign in the African country of Burkina Faso, a country we do not hear much about but is in great need of help. Unlike most HIV & AIDS program approaches, Plan Canada's is all child-centered.

A Mother and her Child in Burkina Faso.
With your support, now they have Hope.

This project provides enhanced access to medical and long-term psychosocial support for children and their families affected by HIV & AIDS, with a portion designated to prevent the infection of children during childbirth. It also facilitates vital legal, financial and practical support to child-led households orphaned by AIDS.

Your support to the Angel’s Corner for this project would allow the Plan to provide health care and medicine needed to prevent HIV transmission from mother to child during delivery for 14 families. This project will also provide activities closely linked to voluntary counseling and testing services targeting both parents, to overall improvement of maternal health services, to family planning counseling and provision, to health care support for parents living with AIDS, and to counseling and support to ensure safer and exclusive breast feeding.



As we had previously pledged, we continue supporting Kiva.org. We started by supporting 3 Entrepreneurs; now with your help we are able to sponsor four (4) more, for a grand total of seven (7) entrepreneurs, empowering those businesses in their effort towards economic independence. - Click on the Kiva logo to see them all in detail - This is what is called a gift that keeps on giving. Thanks for helping us make more dreams come true.



We are very proud to announce that our daughters wanted to celebrate Mother’s day in a very unique and special way. There is an amazing Hospital in town call "Sick Kids." They have a fundraising walk in support of Pediatric Brain Tumor Research called Meagan’s Walk (read her story), and it will also provide pediatric health care at Sick Kids, the only hospital in Canada with a program dedicated to this specialized area of research. People from all over the world come here. We decided that not only would the Angel’s Corner give a donation, but the whole family will participate by walking together with all their supporters, including Meagan’s mother this May 11th.

  
Update: Photos from Meagan's Walk (Click photo's to enlarge)

We do our best to practice the popular saying: "Talk the talk and walk the walk." But that is not the only walk we will be doing this season. On June 1st we will also be participating in another Walkathon, this time to support our Local Community Centre – York Community Services – to raise funds for their new satellite community health center which will provide health, legal, counseling, housing and support services for low income families.

Lastly, we would like to thank you all for your continuous support and for helping to make life better for so many.

Learn more about and support The Angel's Corner.

With much appreciation, deep gratitude and immense hope.

Truly yours,

Maria Angel
The Angel’s Corner
GAMMA Salt Cristals, Ltd.

Angel's Corner Supports Plan Canada and Kiva

Happy New Year to All!

Let me start by thanking our customers for the overwhelming support we have received for the Angel's Corner initiative.



We are very excited because we were able to make our first contributions to two great organizations:

• Plan Canada


• Kiva.org

In the process of choosing a specific cause and with suggestions from Plan Canada, we decided to support a cause in Pakistan first, for a few reasons. First, as mentioned, our factory is located in Pakistan and we thought it would be great to honor our colleagues by being the first recipients of this initiative, being an essential element in making the Angel's Corner possible. Second, this project will directly benefit children. Third, there is an immense need in that country.

The program is called Birth Registration Program. The goal of this project is to assist children without documentation in obtaining a Birth Certificate. Most significantly these documents provide a child with easier access to essential Social Services such as Education and Healthcare. It provides Proof of Age, helping protect against child labour and child marriage, as well as proof of National Identity, making it easier to defend against abuse and child trafficking.

In addition, a person can be denied their right to: Vote or stand for elected office - Obtain a passport - Prove their nationality - Get Married - Obtain a Drivers License - Inherit money or property, just to name a few. Pakistan's Population is about 160 million; unfortunately nearly 64 million children remain unregistered.

The Angel's Corner's first contribution will be able to provide Birth Registration for about 233 children.

"Join Plan in its goal to achieve universal birth registration - a universal responsibility"
Archbishop Desmond Tutu. (Nobel Peace Price-1984)

With Kiva.org we started by supporting 3 entrepreneurs in the developing world in their efforts to achieve economic independence, empowering them to lift themselves out of poverty, through micro credit.

With your support, we look forward to being able to help more entrepreneurs in making their dreams come true.

On behalf of the recipients of your good will, I would like to thank you, as well as assure you that we will continue to investigate other worthy projects around the world. This is only the beginning!

Sincerely,
Maria Angel
GAMMA Salt - The Angel's Corner