Greetings, Kossacks!
Some of you may be familiar with the KINship Project that Laura (Black Leather Rain), Patrick (iampunha) and I are working on - I hope many of you are, truthfully. For those who aren't familiar with the project, it started as a simple match up for Thanksgiving meals - find a Kossack who didn't have a place to go for Thanksgiving and match them with a friendly Kossack host. In some cases, folks simply needed a small bit of cash to put a decent Thanksgiving meal on the table. Happily, with your help, we were able to create several success stories - but we'd like to create a few more.
On to the conversation pit...
You can follow the timeline of the project through these diaries:
KINship 11/7/08
KINship 11/9/08
KINship 11/16/08
KINship 11/25/08
KINship 12/7/08
KINship 12/12/08
As I said, we've had several success stories already, some of which are noted in the above diaries. But we still need your help to make the project successful.
If you're a Kossack in need, we want to help you. Whether you're looking for a friendly family to spend Xmas with, need just a little help with Winter bills or need some assistance making a child's Xmas special with a gift or two, we want to help you.
If you're a Kossack who can help, we want to hear from you. Maybe you can host a Kossack or their family for a holiday dinner, or provide some gifts for a special family, or just want to offer some funds to help a Kossack with groceries or utilities - we want to hear from you.
If you'd like to make a financial contribution, we've made it easy for you. (Note: Contributions are not tax-deductible for Federal income tax purposes.)
We've actually raised quite a bit more than the ChipIn widget shows, presently, since we started the project last month. (If you're not comfortable using PayPal, please e-mail Laura at kinshipplanning@gmail.com for a snail mail address and you can send a check or money order.)
We know that everyone's needs are different and everyone has something different to offer, and we want to hear from you. Maybe your needs or abilities are non-financial - that's OK, we still want to hear from you and see what we can do to make someone's life a little easier.
If you need some assistance, you can make a Request here.
If you'd like to offer some assistance, you can use the Donor form.
Our immediate concern is helping Kossacks through the holiday season, but we're looking forward and wondering what we can do in the coming year, as well. With your help, we can make a real difference.
We'll be posting diaries over the next few days and we hope you'll join our effort to strengthen the community. I should also direct you to our kissing cousin organization, Kossacks Networking, if you're looking for a jobs and networking hub. They're almost 3,000 members strong and looking to help you, as well.
On behalf of the KINship crew, thanks to those who have already offered assistance. For those who need assistance, we're ready to help, so please let us know what we can do for you.
Rip -