Hello

The world is moving very fast.

With financial turmoil in the world economy, people are moving even faster to keep up with what's happening.

What we thought would be tangible or valuable one day may disappear like dust another day in this fast-moving world.

We think intensely of what we want to gain, what we have lost or what are missing out. And in what the media tells us are 'uncertain' times, we tend to make choices through fear, guilt or doubt. We also become very cautious about what we give away. And it's most likely that we either become caught up in 'busy-ness' or we spend time thinking too much.

The only thing that stays with us forever is 'ourselves'. Just us. And when you realise that, you just have to stop and ask; why do we do what we do? Is the life we have actually the life we really wanted to create?

So in this turmoil in the economy, it's a wonderful time to listen to our own good feelings more.

That's precisely why the stories in this issue are somehow related to following our feelings. Yes, giving creates good feelings in our life. The gift of feeling good is beyond the physical results of our giving. Our own feelings tell us everything about our life.

And guess what our feelings are actually creating for us...

  Masami Sato
  Founder
  Buy1GIVE1 - B1G1

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Loosing to gain

New Zealand based Buy1GIVE1 Member Wendy Barker has had an amazing week. She recently decided to support the feeding of children through Midday Meals in Mumbai, India from the sale of each of her amazing Figure 8 Body Chains. "As you lose, they gain," says Wendy who has been so excited by the media response.

This last week she was inundated with national print and TV coverage. As Wendy puts it, 'the phone has been running red hot!' Wendy's Body Chains are part of a great weight loss programme, and when you buy a chain (which is also a jewellery piece), children are fed. The more weight and chain links you lose, the more children get fed - a great example of the power of Buy1GIVE1.

Feeling guilty to feeling great What inspired her to feed children, apart from the obvious connection with her product, was that in the early 1970's when she was at school she would throw her lunch in the rubbish bin because she wanted to lose weight. At the time the Nigerian Civil War was raging and children were starving in Biafra. The other school children would say, "Think of the starving children in Biafra." Today she feels great to be doing her bit to give forward to those in need through the sales of an amazing product transforming people's lives. Visit www.bodychain.com to find out more, to order your Figure 8 chain AND make a difference too.

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From one to many

Giving from head or heart
Ken Hawkins owns one of the Internationally renowned Kip McGrath Education Centre franchises in Australia.

When Ken first saw the power of Buy1GIVE1, he tried very hard to figure out the most effective giving for his business. And then, as he puts it,

"I just let go and chose a WorthyCause Partner from your list - a small school in a slum in India. I wanted nothing in return. I just wanted to see what would happen if I let go of needing to 'make sense' with my giving."

Ken's giving 'story' became this: 'every lesson a child receives at our centre also provides education for a day to an underprivileged child living in a slum.' The children at Ken's centre learn about giving while receiving great support for their own learning.

Power of connection
Ken and his family started to feel very connected to the children they are supporting. And then the magic happened. Ken realised that he actually wanted to support more children in the slum instead of just the ones that his centre could do alone.

And the only way for him to make that happen quickly was to inspire his fellow franchise owners to do it with him. He realised the power he had to make a massive difference. The Kip McGrath Head Office now supports Ken to spread the message of his giving to other franchisees - creating a brand new corporate culture.

And of course, that realisation continues each day to make a difference - not just to the children but also to Ken's life and to his business.

"Since we started to give in June this year the number of students in our centre increased from 60 to over 100. This happened just in 4 months... I actually don't know where this phenomenon came from. I said to myself, "What if it was because of our Buy1GIVE1 giving...?" Regardless of how this actually happened, I still feel giving is an important part of our life and business. And I am inspired to encourage others to participate in this giving movement."

Dreams of the children
The slum school (Helping Hand in Service) that Ken partners with through Buy1GIVE1 was facing closure several months ago because of the lack of funding. The local government cannot reach out to most areas in slums where many of the children are not even registered. Many children go out on the street for begging.

When this school opened in 2002, the magic started to happen. Here is just one example of such stories:

Sanjay's father had died on account of AIDS and his mother was infected with HIV. It appeared as though his education was at an end. Helping Hand in Service convinced his family about the need to study, arranged sponsors for his school education and gave him the extra coaching at their centre. Today he is on the verge of completing his high school and is well above average in academics.

When Buy1GIVE1 team visited the slum last year, Sanjay told us his grand dream.

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Simple and powerful examples of your giving

Find your story
Finding a great giving story which is totally practical and resonant for your particular product/service is the real key to making this transaction-based giving work instantly.

So, here is the opportunity for you to seriously consider your giving options. Buy1GIVE1 now has over 500 projects listed online and this list is expanding every week. Here are some examples of popular giving projects to which you can 'match' your transaction-based giving.

Did you know...?

• Give water to a person in need - Providing clean water to one person for one day cost 1 cent through Buy1GIVE1. Imagine that. Just 1 cent going from a transaction making such an impact.
  Click here to see this project.
• Feed a child - Feeding a child through many of the midday meal schemes around the world starts from anything around 25 cents per meal. This actually encourages the child to go to school as well.
  Click here to see this project.
• Educate a child - Sponsoring a child to go to school for one day starts from around 50 cents. If you are providing learning experience to your clients, you can easily partner with something like this.
  Click here to see this project.
• Plant a tree - Buy1GIVE1 supports many organisations in different countries working on environmental projects. Planting and maintaining a tree usually costs $2.50-$4. You can even plant part of one tree per product to offset the environmental impact through Buy1GIVE1.
  Click here to see this project.
• Build a house - Building a house costs quite a lot. But if we break it down to per person cost or even annual cost, it may become even more practical for your business. Building a house for one person stats from around $800.
  Click here to see this project.
• Empower Women / protect animals etc - There are many projects supporting different types of specific beneficiaries. Projects start from less than one dollar.

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Totally 'getting' it

It's amazing how people 'get' Buy1GIVE1.

We were at a conference this week in Australia. And a health professional rushed up to us excitedly: "I really get it now and I want to join right now too," she said.

She explained how she'd just seen Nicky Meehan's wonderful Maple Muesli (arguably the best muesli in the world as we mentioned in our very first newsletter - www.maplemuesli.com). And right there on the muesli packet it tells you that when you buy the muesli, you feed a child in India.

And that simple thing made our health professional 'get it'. So now, every time someone comes to visit the health professional, Berris Burgoyne, something great will happen too. "I can't believe how simple this is," she says.

Oh and talking of Maple Muesli, Nicky had a stall in a market near the conference location. And another conference delegate pointed out how, as they put it, "People were just flocking to Nicky's stall with the Buy1GIVE1 logo everywhere around it; it was wall-to-wall people!"

Buy1GIVE1 is such a powerful idea - once you get it AND when you apply it. Come join us on the journey. 'Getting it' has such a huge impact. Email us today with your phone number and we can ring you and answer all your questions.

Welcome to the world of Buy1GIVE1 - B1G1!