Project KIKS-2
Project KIKS-2 is what I am calling this new page that will be used to cover the happenings of another phase of PROJECT KIKS. Another phase of PROJECT KIKS you may ask? Yes, another phase! You see, Paul and the team are now doing work in New Orleans - to help with the aftermath of Katrina. And now that work is being done in yet another needy area, PROJECT KIKS can use your support more than ever. When you are interested in reading about how to make a donation, click donation. For more information about the work being done in
New Orleans, read below and also click more info for additional details.
Paul Writes: I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
Was I back in Soweto, South Africa, or was I in the United States?
That was my reaction when I visited the lower 9th Ward and the Algiers neighborhood in New Orleans. Captain Rita Humphries had told me she thought she was in a third world country and didn’t realize it, when she went to the AMVETS Convention in post-Katrina New Orleans. After I left the comfortable tourist surroundings of Uptown and the French Quarter, survivors of Katrina were still suffering from effects of a contaminated environment, the emotional horrors of the hurricane, a devastated infrastructure, inadequate medical care, dilapidated housing, non-existent public transportation, lack of stores and markets. They lack the very basics of life. The social fabric is torn; the residents still don’t know the whereabouts of their loved ones and friends.
I have never seen the like in my 45 years as a child and family advocate, and I have visited, lived, and worked in 33 countries on five continents.
My fact-finding mission took me downtown to the industrial section of the 9th Ward, in Saint Bernard’s Parish. My first referral for shoes and socks was an unemployed disabled veteran of the Afghani War, his wife, and his three barefoot and near-naked children living in a single room. All of them were ill with influenza, and the veteran had not worked since he returned from war. We distributed shoes and socks to them all.
My next referral was a family of four living in a hotel room post-Katrina since 2005—a deaf mother, and three children, who hadn’t seen shoes and socks since they moved in. We distributed shoes and socks here as well.
These two cases are typical of the families we served. We ran out of shoes the very first morning, well before we ran out of needy children.
Little known to me, the word got out among the poor communities that a nonprofit organization was distributing shoes. The next I knew, Project KIKS was being presented with requests from six more organizations representing those needing shoes. These poor community organizations have an overwhelming caseload, but run with minimal funding. They serve a complete spectrum of the needy citizens of post-Katrina New Orleans as best they can.
So now we face the challenge. The fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina looms ahead of us on August 24th, 2010. We want to shoe the children of those six agencies by then.
Donations of new athletic shoes and socks for toddlers, children, and teenagers are requested for distribution to orphaned, neglected, abused, and homeless young Americans. Please, mail donations to Project KIKS, c/o AMVETS Post Office Box 61, Yountville, CA 94599; our KIKS Hot Line is at 707.227.2997. All donations received are tax deductible.
Thank you for your support.
Respectfully,
Paul Cheatham II
Project Director
Kind Initiative Kids Shoes
AMVETS Post 101
Yountville
Click to go to PROJECT KIKS
Click here for CONTACT and DONATION Information.
