Ten Kids, Inc. partner with "CNN Heroes" nominee Aaron Jackson & Planting Peace

Feb. 10, 2008 - PRLog -- A simple concept, Help ten kids have a chance at life. Do you ever wonderhow you can help all world's needy children. You don't have to help all of them right now. Ten Kids, Inc. and Planting Peace give you the opportunity to directly help ten kids.

Ten Kids, Inc. was developed as a non-profit organization to empower children around the world with the basics of life; Safe Shelter, Food, Clean Water, Medical Care and Education. By providing kids with the basics of life Ten Kids, Inc. gives them an opportunity to help themselves, other individuals, their community and their country.

Oprah Winfrey, in an interview that aired 12/27/2007 with John Wood, a former Microsoft executive who quit his high-paying job to build libraries in the developing world said “People say to me why do children starve, why do bad things happen? Children starve because we let the, WE LET THEM. The rest of the world stands by and lets them starve. Then there are people like you (John) who say I’m not gonna let you go hungry.”

After much discussion and nearly three years of contemplating how they can help, Kim and Gip Gibson of Frankfort, KY developed Ten Kids, Inc. The name Ten Kids was chosen for its simplicity and with the mission of giving ten orphaned, abused or homeless children an alternative to the chaos many face on a daily basis.

Ten Kids first project will take place in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where they will be partnering with Planting Peace (www.PlantingPeace.org.), sponsoring a home for ten kids. Aaron Jackson, founder of Planting Peace, was recently nominated for a “CNN HEROS” award and featured on Larry King. Mr. Gibson will be going to Haiti in early March to finalize the arrangements for their first home. The cost of sponsoring this home is $1,000 per month or about $100 per child. The sponsorships will provide; A safe and loving home, Three meals a day, Clean drinking water, Clothing, Education (including uniforms), Access to medical care and a Full-time house parent. “Think about this, for just $12,000 a year we can positively change the lives of TEN children,” Mr. Gibson said.

When Ten Kids started raising funds on January 18 of this year they were looking for 100 people to give just $10 a month, the cost of going to the movies (matinee only) or a trip to Starbucks. As of February 9th they had already raised $2,890 and only need 76 more people at $10 a month to sponsor their first home. If individuals or organizations do not want commit to a monthly donation, Ten Kids will happily accept any size contribution. 100% of your donation will go directly to sponsoring the home, administrative cost are currently being covered by the Gibson’s. If you want to help or would like additional information visit their website at www.TenKids.org or call Gip Gibson at (859) 229-4536 or (502) 352-1443.

What does the future hold for Ten Kids? Mr. Gibson said, “The idea is that we create something that is able to be replicated. After we get the first home sponsored we will look for another home either in Haiti or even possibly in the US.”

Facts about Haiti

• Haiti is about an hour and half plane ride from Miami to Port-au-Prince, the capital
• Haiti is the most impoverished country in the Western Hemisphere, with 76 percent of its population below the poverty line, in Kentucky that would be over 3 million people (KY has about 4 million residents)
• Most Haitians live on less than $2 per day
• 95% of Haiti's 8.5 million people are descendents of African slaves
• An estimated 300,000 children are child laborers or Restavecs,* domestic slaves
• Child mortality:
o 1 out of 14 children die before their first birthday
o 1 out of 8 children die before they reach age of 5
• Life expectancy – 49 years , lower in Haiti than in Sudan
• Only 50% of primary-age children are in primary school
• Less than 2% of children finish secondary school
• 40% of the children do not get regular vaccinations for childhood diseases
• Its people have less access to clean water and sanitation than residents of Ethiopia or Sierra Leone
• Chronic malnutrition affects 42% of children under the age of five
• Haiti has the third-highest rate of hunger in the world, behind Somalia and Afghanistan
• Kentucky has about 40,000 square miles with over 4 million people
• Haiti has about 11,000 square miles with over 8.5 million people, half the size, double the people
• Port-au-Prince, the capital, has about 60% (5 million) of the total urban population
• A greater percentage of Haitians live in poverty than citizens of the war-ravaged Congo in Africa
• Haiti is a beautiful tropical land, with a rich history, full of amazing kids

* RESTAVEC, a French term meaning "stay with" refers to a social system in Haiti whereby parents unable to care for their children send or sell them to relatives or strangers living in more urban areas where they receive food, housing (and sometimes an education) in exchange for light housework. In reality Restavecs often live in grinding poverty, enslaved to their “hosts”/Owners and seldom receive an education. The Restavec system is considered a form of slavery. There is a great book called Restavec: From Haitian Slave Child to Middle-Class American by Jean-Robert Cadet, ISBN 0292712030 available at http://www.restavecfreedom.org/ or your local library

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Ten Kids, Inc. was developed as a non-profit organization to empower children around the world with the basics of life; Food, Clean Water, Safe Shelter, Medical Care and Education.

By providing kids with the basics of life we give them an opportunity to help themselves, other individuals, their community and their country.

Visit www.TenKids.org to sponsor a kid in Haiti.