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.
"I want to become a pilot. And if I can change something in this slum, I want to change the people through education."
Ken Hawkins, Kip McGrath and the students and parents now make that dream possible through Buy1GIVE1. Again, as Ken puts it: "giving is an important part of our life and business."
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