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Coloring Away Pain™: News
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March 29, 2007
Hi there! I hope this finds everyone well and happy! Can you believe March is almost over? This year is flying by.
March was a very productive and busy month for Coloring Away Pain. Over 1,000 emails were sent out nationwide introducing our coloring books and our company. Close to 1,000 coloring books were donated to agencies such as Broward SATC, Women In Distress, Parents of Murdered Children-Hollywood Chapter, Ford Heights Hope Center in Chicago and a Victim Advocate agency in Arizona. These agencies do not have the budget to be able to purchase these coloring books. Several donations that have been received, helped to make this donation possible. Thank you!
March also kicked off our pilot program in Broward Estates Elementary School. Over 1000 coloring books and 800 boxes of crayons were delivered for this pilot study.
Three schools in Central Florida, two in Colorado have requested samples and or purchased books for use in their student services department. The books are also being reviewed for possible use in the schools curriculum. Military Child is also reviewing our books for use in their curriculum with the children of our armed forces.
Over 110 samples of books have been sent out, in the month of March alone, to victim agencies in PA, NY, CT, MD, NY, NE, AZ, TX, KS, OR, MD, FL, CO, OK and MN. The response has been extremely encouraging.
I am happy to announce that our coloring books will be available soon in Ace Educational Store here in South Florida. I have a meeting tomorrow to button up the details and set a date for delivery.
The Foundation for Coloring Away Pain has applied for a grant through United Way. This is exciting as it will allow for further development and donations to agencies who could really use our resources, but lack the resources.
In the next few months, Coloring Away Pain will feature a commercial on the real estate listing channel of Comcast. It will air in several areas in the Dade/Broward area. We hope to reach many realtors and promote our Moving coloring book.
Some sad news, a very dear friend and supporter of Coloring Away Pain, passed away last week. Esther Manfre was there from the beginning helping to pack up collected coloring books and crayons to be sent to the Gulf Coast. I have fond memories of her and I sitting in a sea of coloring books till 4 a.m. sorting and packing. She was tireless in her help and encouragement. Esther was also a very dear friend, neighbor and my children's babysitter. I had known Esther since I was 7. She will be greatly missed.
As always, I appreciate all your support. Please continue to forward these updates to others. Hope you all have a great weekend!
Kimberly Pressley-Herrick
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Holiday Greetings!
I hope this finds you all well and happy. I wanted to update you all on some things that have been happening with Coloring Away Pain.
We have a new illustrator, Tiffany. Tiffany is an art student at the Fort Lauderdale Art Institute. She is an amazing artist and has already illustrated three books in the couple months she has been with us. Keep up the great work Tiffany!
Recently I was contacted by a business owner in Ocala, Florida. She inquired about some coloring books to take to an orphanage in Romania. I am proud to say that 100 of our coloring books accompanied Mrs. Plunkett to Romania and were distributed to children who have nothing. I am so excited that we could help those children by providing them something to call their own. I look forward to being able to send more and even being able to have the books translated into their language.
Tonight I attended a boy scout meeting and met some great people. Everyone was very supportive of the cause, several children were very interested in the different coloring books and wanted to purchase a book that fit their need. One boy in particular broke down as he spoke of his beloved pet "Thomas" that had recently passed away. His mother purchased "Goodbye Friend" for him, along with four other of the coloring books.
My ten year old, Zack, accompanied me and passed out bookmarks that feature the different coloring book characters. Some of the den mothers purchased the 2007 Color Me Calendar for their scouts as holiday gifts. A special thank you to Lee Aloni for her continued support. Lee has been a big supporter of Coloring Away Pain since its inception.
We have two different 2007 calendars being used as a fundraiser for Coloring Away Pain. One features all the different characters from our coloring books and is great for kids because they can color each picture. The other calendar features children's various drawings. Plans are already in the works for getting children from various schools to submit their art for the 2008 calendar.
Several new coloring books are completed and heading to the printers. "The Secret" deals with the topic of abuse, "The Present In Me" deals with looking at the inward qualities and gifts we have to offer some one and not just what's on the outside or our "wrapping paper", "Safe In The Car" features a family of chimps who learn how important it is to wear your seatbelt and know the rules of safe driving. Soon to be released is "Grandpa, What's Happening?" a story that deals with the topic of terrorism.
In closing, I want to thank everyone for their continued support and good thoughts. It has meant a lot. I want to wish each and every one of you a wonderful holiday. May it be a special time for you and your family and may 2007 bring you many blessings.
Kimberly Pressley-Herrick
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I trust that everyone
is having a wonderful summer. My kids are
enjoying the carefree schedule as am I.
I have a few things to
catch you up on. Our coloring book, "THE
BULLY", is completed. This makes our sixth
completed book, I am excited about that. Seven
and eight will be due out very soon.
I am pleased to
announce two new members of my team. Joel
Azrikan has come aboard as marketing director.
Besides being a long time friend, he is a wealth
of information and will be an valuable asset to
this cause. I feel so honored to have him
aboard. His contact information is on our web
site, if you get a chance say hi!
Jeff Weinraub has
climbed aboard as our illustrator, his debut
coloring book for us is "THE BULLY". I consider
us to be very fortunate to have him aboard and
look forward to seeing all the drawings he has
in store and working with him. Keep up the good
work Jeff!
As always, I so
appreciate your help and support. Without your
help and support, this would not be the success
that it has been and will continue to be. Keep
spreading the word and if you know of a child in
need that could benefit from one of our coloring
books, please don't hesitate to contact us.
Kimberly
Pressley-Herrick
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5/18/06 Special thanks to Sherry Ibbs, Mrs.
Garrard and students from Pioneer Middle School
for their generous donation of coloring books
and crayons/markers. Coloring Away Pain™
appreciates your thoughtfulness and donations
very much!
Kimberly
Pressley-Herrick
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April 18, 2006 Hello everyone! I
hope this email finds you all well and happy. I
cannot believe that we are in the middle of
April already.
Coloring Away Pain™ updates have been few and far
between but we are still hard at work. Many
great things have been going on behind the
scenes. We just finished our 5th coloring
book. This coloring book was illustrated by
Susan Moraco and is called "The Do-Over". It
deals with retention in school and is primarily
focused on students Kindergarten through Third
grade. Susan did a wonderful job with
illustrations and we are excited to have her on
board.
Currently we have three more coloring
books being illustrated. Those topics include
bullying, death and sexual assault. We also
have our coloring books being translated into
Spanish.
South Florida Parenting magazines May issue will
feature a small article on Coloring Away Pain™
and the community news section of the Sun
Sentinel will also feature an article on Sunday,
April 30th. We had a nice visit with the Sun
reporter who was in awe of all our supporters
and sponsors. I handed her the list of
people/businesses who have been instrumental in
helping with the collection of coloring books
and such and she was amazed.
"Unfortunately there is not enough room in the
article to mention each by name" she said.
Friday, April 21st. Foundation for Coloring
Away Pain™ will be receiving a business
partnership award in Littleton, Colorado. We
are business partners with the Colorado PTA and
their annual Business Award Luncheon is Friday.
Our illustrator, Tenna Phillips, will be
attending along with her son Harry to accept the
award. We are excited.
We have been invited to the May luncheon hosted
by the Women's Council of Realtors for South
Florida. The president elect, Dianne
Shortsleeve, has been very enthusiastic about
our moving coloring book and the moving kit we
have put together. She is hoping to have
realtors purchase our "moving kits" to be
distributed to children, at closings, who are
faced with this life changing event. Our
kits include "The Move" coloring book, a box of
24 crayons and 8 note cards that coincide with
the story so the children can maintain contact
with those they leave behind. A portion of each
purchase will be donated to The Foundation for
Coloring Away Pain™ which will provide a child in
a disaster area with a coloring book suited to
their personal need.
As always, your continued support is very much
appreciated.
Kimberly Pressley-Herrick
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03/15/06
Coloring Away Pain™ has been issued our 501 (C) 3
status from the IRS. |
02/27/06
Hello. Hope that this
finds everyone well and happy. I know its been
awhile since I have sent out an update but in
spite of slowed shipments, Coloring Away Pain™
has been busy.
Currently, our fourth
coloring book is being illustrated. To date, we
have finished coloring books that deal with
Storms, Floods and Moving. Copyrights are in
progress and we are currently awaiting our 501
(C) 3 status from the IRS. This should be
received any day now. This status will allow
for contributors to receive tax deductions.
Our latest shipment is
being sent to an Art Director in Louisiana.
She moved from South Florida and works at the
Parks and Recreation Department in Louisiana.
She shared that the children there have
absolutely nothing. Coloring Away Pain™ will be
shipping three boxes of coloring books, crayons,
markers and paint sets to these children.
As always, your help
and support is appreciated.
Kimberly
Pressley-Herrick
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All the thanks go to Deloris Irving, and the
teacher who she asked to take and send the
photos. I thought they were great, too!
Please follow up with Deloris about the
media releases. I did not ask her about
that, I doubt any of us thought of it at
all, but we should. Thank you for the
reminder.
I am copying these messages to Deloris, so
please follow up with her about the media
release. If there is a form to use, perhaps
you can clip it to her, we don't have one. I
am sure Deloris will do whatever she can to
help you post the photos, she is a great
child advocate. Come to think of it, I would
like a media release to get one of
these great pictures with children in
our newsletter, and on our website!
And thanks again for the great coloring
books and crayons, I think you definitely
have a great program going with Coloring
Away Pain™, and Mississippi PTA is grateful
to have been one of your beneficiaries, and
happy to have been part of your distribution
chain! God bless you!
VP Education, Mississippi PTA
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12/24/05 Just wanted to
wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, Happy
Holidays and only the best in the coming New
Year.
As 2005 starts to wind
down, I did not want the opportunity, to send my
heartfelt thanks to each and everyone of you, to
pass by. Your support, help and interest in
Coloring Away Pain™ has been deeply appreciated
and I give you my heartfelt thanks.
Coloring Away Pain™,
Inc. is in a transition phase right now. We are
completing our 3rd coloring book and have
speaking engagements lined up beginning in
March. Coloring Away Pain™, Inc. is fast
becoming a full time job with many exciting
projects in the works as well as being committed
to filling the requests from the Gulf Coast for
5,000 more coloring books and crayons.
(Currently we have 1700 boxes of crayons on hand
with only about 15 coloring books. Please keep
spreading the word).
I look forward to 2006
and what it holds not only for Coloring Away
Pain™, Inc. but for each and everyone of you.
May the good Lord bless each and everyone of you
in the coming year and always.
Kimberly
Pressley-Herrick
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12/03/05
Hello there. I hope this finds you all well and
happy! The holidays are fast approaching, I
cannot believe how fast this year has gone by!
Today, Coloring Away
Pain™, Inc., shipped off 303 coloring books to
St. Martin East Elementary School (K-3) located
in Ocean Springs, MS. This was a partial
shipment and the balance, 227 coloring books and
crayons, will be shipped in the next week or two
as donations continue to come in.
Also shipped off was 16
art sets to Mrs. Richardson's 4th grade class of
Escatawpa Elementary in Escatawpa, MS. These
children are the ones who's pictures and
wonderful letters and drawings can be seen in
the testimonial link of our web site.
We are still in need of
coloring books and crayons. Needed are 4987
coloring books and boxes of crayons. Our total
shipments thus far has exceeded 5,000, I am very
proud of this and again I want to thank you all
for your help and support. Without you it would
not have been possible.
DHL continues to
provide our shipping and for that I want to send
out a HUGE THANK YOU!!! Thank you to Catherine
and Kiss Country for keeping our link on their
web site, your support means so much!
Special thanks to
Sherry for her continued collections at Pioneer
Middle School and to Marcia Katz for all the
coloring books and crayons she totes over to
me. Thank you to Jerry Gwynn for his continued
support in getting coloring books and I want to
thank Ravenswood Paint and Body in Dania for
their collections. You guys are the best!!!!
Keep spreading the word
and I hope that you all have a wonderful day.
Kimberly
Pressley-Herrick
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11/24/05 Happy Thanksgiving
everyone! I hope that you all have had a
wonderful Thanksgiving. Our web site has
changed, I invite you to visit it. Special
thanks to Rodney Zimmerman (the webmaster) for
his tireless work in updating, changing and
making sure everything is perfect.
We now have a
testimonial link that features photos, letters
and drawings sent by the children who have
received our coloring book and crayon
donations. I think you will enjoy reading how
you helped touched these children lives.
I want to send out a
special thanks to Steven Bowers and the Seminole
Tribe of Florida for their generous donation of
200 coloring books. Thank you so much for your
contribution.
Thanks to Catherine at
Kiss County for keeping our link on their web
site. We really appreciate the support and you!
I also want to thank
Karen Woodgate and the Seminole Hard Rock and
Casino for the donation of coloring books and
crayons they collected in house. Thank you!!!
Thanks to the Tampa Bay
Buccaneers who sent team stickers to be
distributed with the coloring books and crayons.
Thank you Jerry Gwynn
for your help in getting donations from your
National Hot Rod Association buddies. I really
appreciate your help and support!
Continued thanks to
Kelly and DHL for all the donated shipping for
our cause. Without you it wouldn't be possible
to deliver all the donations received.
I received a call on
the 22nd from a librarian at Southwest Regional
Library. She had come across our web site and
was interested in our program. Wednesday, I
dropped off 15 of our coloring books
for children who visit the library and were
affected by Hurricane Wilma. The librarian for
the youth services department and I spoke about
Coloring Away Pain™, Inc. and their interest in
helping us collect for this cause.
I am excited to
announce that we are now official partners of
the Colorado PTA. Special thanks to Joel
Azrikan for all his help in making this
possible. One state down, 49 to go!!
In spite of the shift
from a hurricane relief charity to a regular
children's charity, Coloring Away Pain™, Inc. is
still committed to Hurricane Katrina/Rita/Wilma
victims and will continue to fulfill every
request. Presently we still need 5200 coloring
books and 5000 crayons for children in Jackson
County and Biloxi, Mississippi.
Keep spreading the word
and may this holiday season be your very best.
Kimberly
Pressley-Herrick
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11/21/05
Special thanks to the Seminole Tribe of Florida
and Steven Bowers for their generous donation of
200 coloring books.
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11/20/05
EXCITING NEWS!!!! As
of today Coloring Away Pain™ is an official partner
of the Colorado PTA
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11/19/05 Hello!
I hope this finds everyone well and gearing up
for the holidays. They are fast approaching.
This has been an awesome week for Coloring Away
Pain™. We copyrighted our first coloring book in
a series and now are shopping for the best price
for mass printing. Coloring book two of six, is
in the works and will help with other traumatic
issues that kids may face in their little
lives. It should be ready for release by the
end of December. I am so excited!!!
This week we have
received a ton of responses from the children
who have received our coloring books and crayons
and also letters from principals and teachers.
Rodney, the webmaster, is in the process
of placing all these on the website. I did
attach some photos I received to share with all
of you. I think you all should be proud and
will be touched how your support and donations
helped put these smiles on these kids faces.
When all the letters
and notes and drawings are posted to the web
site I will send out another update so you can
see and read for yourselves how we made children
forget, even if for a minute, the devastation
that turned their worlds upside down.
Thanks again to all of
you and KEEP SPREADING THE WORD. I appreciate
all the support and hope that each and everyone
of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Kimberly
Pressley-Herrick
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11/12/05
Hello. Still no phones but thank God for
friends who do have them :O). I wanted to send
out a special thank you to Super Target in
Davie, Florida and to Ivan the manager there.
Target ordered us hundreds of boxes of crayons
for our cause and donated $50.00 towards the
purchase price. They also honored the .25 cent
price per box in spite of a price increase from
the time ordered till the time delivered
and picked up. There donation equalled to 200
boxes if crayons free!! THANK YOU TARGET your
awesome!!
The Miami Dolphins sent
100 Dolphin Team Helmet stickers to be included
in the boxes being shipped to the Gulf Coast.
Thank you to the Dolphins team, I am sure that
the kids will enjoy the stickers.
We are slowly but
surely getting back up and running since Wilma.
DHL will be picking up the boxes going to the
Down Syndrome Association of Greater New Orleans
on Monday. In the middle of next week a box of
482 coloring books and 488 boxes of crayons will
be shipped to St. Martin Upper Elementary School
in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.
We still have a need
for 5500 coloring books and crayons. Our
coloring book that deals specifically with
storms is ready for mass production. Donations
received will go toward the printing cost for
that coloring book and the purchase of crayons
to accompany the coloring books.
Once again, I
appreciate all the help and support you all have
given Coloring Away Pain™, Inc. Keep spreading
the word :O)
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11/07/05
Escatawpa
Elementary wants to thank you for the wonderful
donations. It was very exciting to see the
faces of the children as they received their
packages. Even sixth graders were excited. We
will be sending you a few of our pictures. I
hope you made lout OK during the storm that came
your way.
Eileen G. Ogborn
Second Grade
Teacher
Escatawpa
Elementary
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11/04/05 Hello
Everyone!!! I hope all the Floridians survived
Wilma without too much damage. I, myself, am
still without power, cable and phone.
Fortunately, not too much damage and nothing
structurally other than some pulled up tiles off
the roof. Everything else can be replaced or
repaired :O)
We have finished
writing and illustrating our first coloring book
and I am excited about it. This weekend I will
be working on getting approx. 125 copies ready
to take my kids school on Monday (yes, we are
finally going back to school!). I am hoping to
get teacher input and to also do a test run to
see what, if anything, needs to be improved.
After that, there will be a mass production to
fill the request by Jackson Public School
Superintendents.
Coloring Away Pain™,
Inc. is still as operational as ever with just a
short setback. Our focus is gearing now more
towards monetary donations so we may purchase
crayons and to fund the printing of our first
coloring book. I hope to have a copy of it
posted on the web site shortly for you all to
view.
Many thanks to Rodney,
the web master, for posting the message about
our dilemma with Wilma. I know for most
Floridians it was the last thing on their minds
but it was nice to have the message there so our
out of towners could read what was going on.
As always, thank you
for your help and continued support.
Kimberly
Pressley-Herrick
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10/21/05 Well, as
Hurricane Wilma looms we are still focusing on
the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. What a
season huh?
We are happy to be
shipping off 100 coloring books and 100 boxes of
crayons to the Down Syndrome Association of
Greater New Orleans. Along with that shipment
is going a box of sticker books and reading
books, these will be used as holiday gifts for
these children as the Director expects donations
for their holiday drive to be way down, if at
all this year. I am so happy that we are able
to provide these to them.
Special thanks to
Pioneer Middle School PTSA, Sherry and Kelly for
their contribution to this program.
Pioneer Middle PTSA has donated funds, which PTA
President Kelly and Vice President Sherry used
to purchase tons of coloring books and crayons.
THANK YOU PIONEER MIDDLE PTSA, Coloring Away
Pain™, Inc. appreciates your support!!!
Slowly but surely we
are answering the requests of Principals,
Teachers and Counselors in the Gulf Coast area
for coloring books and crayons. We are
approaching 4,000 shipped with another 6,000
requested. KEEP SPREADING THE WORD!!!
Super Target in Davie
has ordered 2500 boxes of crayons for us.
Currently the price is a quarter per box, this
is an incredible price seeing as these are 24
count Crayola boxes that are currently being
sold at Walmart for $1.02 per box. Super Target
is donating $50.00 towards the purchase, which
is the equivalent of 200 free boxes of crayons.
We are grateful to Target for this and
appreciate their help in obtaining the crayons
for us. In light of this we are collecting
monetary donations to help offset the cost of
these crayons which will be about $575.00.
I am happy and pleased
to announce that Coloring Away Pain™, Inc. is
buttoning up the illustrations on their first
coloring book. I have been working with a
clinical psychologist in creating and designing
this coloring book to help aid in the healing
process. This is the first in a series of five
coloring books that deal with traumatic events
that children are likely to face. I will
certainly keep you informed of this developing
series.
Hope that everyone has
a great weekend.
Kimberly
Pressley-Herrick
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10/19/05 We at
Escatawpa Elementary would like to thank each
and everyone for the coloring books and crayons.
It means a lot to the teachers, parents, and
students to know we were thought of in this time
of tragedy. In some cases these coloring books
are all these children have. Thanks to people
like you our children can escape from the
confusion of Katrina as we rebuild our homes and
businesses. We are very blessed to have people
like you to think of us. Thank you and God
bless.
Thank You,
Paula Breland
Kindergarten
Teacher
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10/15/05
Special thanks to Mary Sloan with the
Mississippi PTA for all her help distributing
goods and spreading the word about Coloring Away
Pain™. We appreciate your help.
Kimberly
Pressley-Herrick
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10/14/05 Hi
there, hope this finds everyone well and happy.
I just wanted to let everyone know that we are
happy to be sending out a shipment of 477
coloring books and 477 boxes of crayons. These
are going to St. Martin North Elementary
School in Biloxi, MS. We are so happy we can
provide for these kids.
I just received another
request from a relief coordinator in Biloxi,
MS. He requested 2000 coloring books and
crayons to be distributed to 5 elementary
schools. This puts the total number of
requests for crayons and coloring books to over
5700 and that was just this week!
Please keep
spreading the word and if you know
anyone in the Atlanta, Georgia area or Tampa
that could help by giving donations please share
this information with them, Coloring Away Pain™
is collecting in those areas also for the Gulf
coast states. Dawn Ackerman, my long time best
friend, is in charge of the Georgia collections
and good friend, Stephanie D'Attoma is handling
donations in the Tampa/St. Pete area.
Special thanks to
Paradise Press, Inc., and Pioneer Middle School
PTSA, we appreciate your support.
Kimberly
Pressley-Herrick
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10/08/05
Hi everyone, I hope that you are having a
good weekend. I wanted to update you on the
latest.
Monday a shipment
of 710 coloring books/sketch pads and
crayons/colored pencils will be going out to
5 different elementary schools in Jackson,
Mississippi. I am excited that we are able
to provide them with these coloring books
and crayons.
I received an email
from Jackson County Public Schools
Superintendants office, they have need for
3500 coloring books and crayons to be
distributed throughout about 10 different
schools. This is our next goal. I really
need some help on this one. We are running
low since fulfilling the 710 mentioned
above, the 680 last week and the 300 the
week before and the 1210 the week before
that. This amount of 3500 does not include
the previously mentioned goals on our news
page. The need is SO great!
Please, please
forward this email and the website to
everyone you know. I am expecting a request
next week from a parents group in
Mississippi. It is most important that as
media coverage has died down that we DO NOT
forget these people. The television
coverage has moved on but they are still
stuck in all the devastation.
We now have DHL on
board for shipping. DHL has graciously
donated the shipping for this effort. A
HUGE THANK YOU TO DHL AND KELLY!!!! You
guys are awesome!!!!!!!
Ok, we are now up
to just under 3,000 shipped with about 3200
collected, pretty good for less than 6 six
weeks operation.
Thanks again to
EVERYONE who has been a part of this effort,
you guys are the best and keep it up.
SPREAD THE WORD TO EVERYONE!!!
Kimberly
Pressley-Herrick
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10/04/05 Hi everyone! Just
a short update for you. Today we shipped off
680 coloring books and 680 boxes of crayons to
an elementary school in Moss Point, MS. These
will be personally distributed by my son,
Zackary's 4th grade teachers sister; she is a
teacher at that school.
The need is so great
and almost daily I hear of more and more that
could benefit from our efforts. Currently,
there is a need for 4,000 coloring books/sketch
pads and boxes of crayons/colored pencils.
Right now I have about 350 coloring books and 75
boxes of crayons. Please spread the word.
Thanks for all your
help and support, your the best!
Kimberly
Pressley-Herrick
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9/30/05 I
shipped out 300 coloring books and 300 boxes
of crayons to Oxford, MS. Mary Sloan will
be receiving the shipment and distributing
them to 300 evacuee children that have been
taken in by her school. As I walked into
the post office today, I said a little
prayer asking God to send me a donor for the
shipping costs. We are still trying to get
with a shipping company who can offer
shipping at a discount rate. Anyway, this
evening while I was sharing my story
with someone, she inquired how the shipping
was being paid. I told her that I had paid
for this one out of my own pocket but the
last one had been donated. She asked me if
that was the greatest need right now and I
said yes (seeing as we have so many to still
ship). She handed me a check for $100.00,
the Lord works in mysterious ways. My
heartfelt thanks goes out to her.
Today (10/3) I
received a $100.00 donation from Amato
Racing in Pennsylvania, his generous
donation bought 376 boxes of crayons, THANK
YOU!!!!!!!!!! I also received 166 boxes of
crayons and 20 sketch pads from Mr. and Mrs.
Ronald Restrepo in Texas, I appreciate your
kindness. Thank you!
A shipment of 650
coloring books and boxes of crayons will be
going out to Escatawpa Elementary School in
Moss Point, Mississippi. The elementary
school has 615 children and has taken in 25
displaced students. This is their first
week back to school. I am excited that we
will be able to provide these precious kids
with coloring kits.
Kimberly
Pressley-Herrick
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9/28/05 Special thanks
to Ms. Petti's 5th grade class from Silver Ridge
Elementary School. They generously donated a
box full of coloring books and crayons.
You guys are awesome,
thanks!
Kimberly
Pressley-Herrick, Director
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9/25/05
I am SO EXCITED, we made it on the Kiss Country
web site. Check it out
www.wkis.com
and click on "HURRICANE RELIEF Click here for
things to do around town". Is that cool or
what?
Kimberly
Pressley-Herrick
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9/23/05
I just wanted to
send an update regarding the Coloring Away
Pain™ campaign. Unfortunately we are going
to be responding to another Hurricane it
looks like. Unfortunate because of the
potential devastation that is only hours
away, but I hope that CAP will be able to
help comfort the children affected.
Yesterday I picked
up 200 Publix coloring books and 78 boxes of
Publix crayons from the Publix at Miramar
Commons. They were happy to provide me
with what they had on hand and gave me
information to contact their community
services department located in Miami to
request larger quantities. Thank you!!
Today I picked up
600 coloring books from Lisa King at
Memorial Hospital Community Services. What
a nice lady and what a pleasant surprise
when I received the call. Many thanks to
Marcia Katz for putting out the call and to
Memorial and Lisa King for answering. We so
appreciate your kindness!!
We met our goal of
1200 for the shelters in Texas. The truck
came today and loaded them up. We were
fortunate to be able to piggy back with
supplies being sent from Griffin Elementary
School. I made sure to enclose letters in
each box describing the purpose of our
program and asking for feedback and stories
of the recipients of these coloring books.
I will be sure to share them with you all.
We currently have
1100 coloring books and no boxes of crayons
on hand. Please spread the word that we
need crayons. Also, if it all possible,
please kindly request packs of crayons no
bigger than 24 count. The 64, 72 and 100
count boxes are nice but make it difficult
to ship large quantities because they take
up so much room in the box. I hate to put
restrictions on people's kindness and would
never reject a donation of the larger crayon
counts but would request if possible to
direct people in purchasing the 24 count or
smaller boxes. Thanks!
I hope that
everyone has a nice weekend.
Kimberly
Pressley-Herrick
__________________________________________________________________________________
Memorial Healthcare
System (donated 600 coloring books)
Publix- Miramar
Commons (donated 200 Publix coloring books &
78 boxes of Publix crayons
We have surpassed
2000 coloring books!!!!
Impressive for less than 4 weeks since Coloring
Away Pain™ was created.
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9-20-05
Hello, my name is Dawn Ackerman and I work at
Norton Elementary School in Snellville,
Georgia. I wanted to tell you a story of how
CAP has already been a blessing to my heart and
the office staff at our school.
Over the past
couple of weeks our school has seen many
families that are victims of Hurricane Katrina.
The children come in with nothing.
Our school PTA
has donated school supplies for these children
and then Kim Pressley-Herrick came up with this
wonderful program CAP (Coloring Away Pain™). The
other day I delivered some coloring books and
crayons to our school office and there sat a mom
and her two children, a second grade boy and a
first grade little girl. While the mom was
filling out paper work to get them started in
school, I offered them a coloring book and some
crayons. I can not explain to you the joy it
put in my heart and the smiles it put on their
little faces.
Later that
afternoon I walked back in the office to see
four more children coloring and smiling. It
goes to show that the little things in life are
what truly mean the most!
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9/21/05 I wanted
to share the blessing that was bestowed on Coloring
Away Pain™ this evening. Tonight I picked up a
coloring book donation from the Walgreens 8625
Stirling Road Cooper City, FL 33328 (at the corner
of Pine Island and Stirling Road).
I was
pleasantly shocked to receive a donation of over
$650.00 in coloring books from the manager at
Walgreens. Thank you to Lee Aloni, who approached
Walgreens in the first place. A HUGE thank you to
Juan Velez, Cpht the Walgreens store manager for his
generous donation!!!!! I can not thank you
enough!!!!!!!!!
Have a
good evening everyone,
Kimberly |
9/19/05
- Received an email from Catherine
Foley at Kiss Country and she wrote:
Wow!!! Kimberly,
you are doing such an awesome job!
Sandy Sloane, our Mktg Director will be
putting your info on our site so that
our listeners can be directed to help
out as well! Congratulations!!!
Stacey
Restrepo, the president of the peds club
at Nova Medical collected $200.00 to
purchase coloring books/sketch pads
along with crayons and colored pencils.
Rick
Herrick donated $100.00 toward expenses
for Coloring Away Pain™.
All together we have surpassed
our 1000 mark collected for
coloring books and over 1000 box
of crayons/markers collected.
Our next goal is to collect
9,000 sets for the county of
Harrison, Mississippi to provide
each elementary student with
coloring books/crayons in this
hard hit area.
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9/18/05 - I am pleased to
announce that tomorrow there will be a
shipment of 970 coloring books/sketch
pads and 970 boxes of crayons/colored
pencils/markers being shipped to
shelters in Texas. The shipment will
piggy back with hurricane relief
supplies from Griffin Elementary
School. THANK YOU MRS. GILBERT for
offering us a space on the truck.
I have attached a picture of the
shipment so you can see what you helped
do! THANK YOU Griffin Elementary School
and all of Coloring Away Pain™ donations
sites. YOU DID THIS!!!!!!
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9/14/05 - Message from Kim
Pressley-Herrick, Director
I am SO excited and
pleased to announce that Coloring Away Pain™ has a
website!!!!
Please send me your
feedback as I would love to hear what you think about
the website.
The first shipment went
out today to a school in Georgia that received 40
children who were hurricane evacuees. I took this box
of 30 boxes of crayons and 30 coloring books/sketch pads
to the post office today, it should arrive Friday.
While there one of the postal clerks asked me what CAP
was, I explained it to him and then proceeded to inquire
about the cost of shipping the box to RL Norton
Elementary School where these children are. The postal
clerk looked at me and said "This one is on me". He
pulled out his wallet and paid the $20.00 shipping
cost. I could not believe it and I thanked him
profusely. He said he was happy to help out what we are
doing and it was his pleasure! THANK YOU MR. GUILLON
for your generosity, CAP and the children receiving
these donations appreciate it and you!
Griffin Elementary is
burning up the pavement with donations. I have a trunk
full of coloring books, sketch pads and crayons. They
are continuing to collect till Friday the 16th. I spoke
with one of the teachers there, Mrs. Guillot, she shared
with me the devastation first hand she saw on her trip
to Mississippi. Her niece is a school teacher and she
is going to give me her address and the amount of
children in her school so we can ship to them coloring
books, sketch pads and crayons for distribution. I was
on the Harrison County, MS website today and it hopes to
have schools opened the first or second week of October,
it is my goal to have those coloring books and crayons
waiting there for these children.
I am in awe
of the support of not only friends and family but
complete strangers who have helped make Coloring
Away Pain™ a success. Thanks to all of you for your
support, encouragement and willingness to pitch in
and help. NONE of this would have been possible
without your help.
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