A new social enterprise, KITE (Kids Inspiring Tomorrow’s Education), will make its formal launch in Bedford, NY, at the Bedford Historical Hall on the evening of October 24th, 2013. The undertaking terms itself a "school supply company that gives", following the tried and true "one-for-one model." For each pencil pack purchased, KITE provides a pencil pack to a child in need. KITE is partnering with schools and organizations that are committed to eliminating the barriers of education both internationally and domestically. Thirteen million kids in the United States alone are without the most basic of school supplies with tens of millions more children around the globe facing this same reality.
KITE’s first two partner schools include the Kipp Ujima Village Academy (KUVA) in Baltimore, MD and the Oloomongi School (in partnership with the Anne K. Taylor Fund) in Masaai Mara, Kenya. KUVA is a Title I School where a high percentage of students are living below the poverty line. Their student body is 99% African American and 86% receive free or reduced meals. The Oloomongi School serves a student body that has little access to basic school supplies due to widespread and extreme poverty. KITE’s Co-Founders, Elizabeth Long Lang and Emily Ginnel Blair will be visiting the Kipp Ujima Village Academy in Baltimore, Maryland on October 25th (the day after the event) where they will be making their first domestic donation of pencil packs.
KITE will be debuting its line of First Edition pencil packs, proudly made in the USA. First edition pencil packs include 12 pencils and will retail at $10.00. KITE pencils will be available for purchase at the event on October 24th from 5-8pm and online at
www.kiteproducts.com.
KITE aims to empower consumers to help those in need by turning basic, necessary instruments of learning into weapons of change. “A pencil is one of the most enduring, pervasive education technologies ever invented," says KITE co-founder Elizabeth Long Lang, "yet is still elusive in many poverty stricken communities. It’s easy to take such basic instruments for granted, but they are engines of confidence, propelling us on the path to literacy. With the necessary tools, every child can achieve success.”
KITE’s Co-Founders, Elizabeth Long Lang and Emily Ginnel Blair, both former residents of Bedford, will be hosting the event, along with co-hosts Kate and Dan Ginnel of Ginnel Real Estate, Ali Tejtel, and Nelson and Terry Long.
KITE’s long-term goal is to provide kids in need with the necessary tools to attend school and be productive learners. A lack of school supplies can negatively impact a child’s opportunity for academic achievement and places children at greater risk of abandoning school altogether. KITE is starting with pencils, but their dream is to develop a full line of school supplies, and in turn, help to make the dream of education a reality for millions of children around the world.
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