Hugs and Kisses, Inc. held their Grand Opening of the new Hugs and Kisses Center on Friday, February 5th. The event kicked off with a ribbon-cutting ceremony by the Palms West Chamber of Commerce at 5:00 PM and was followed by standing-room-only attendance during a catered Open House until 8:00 PM.

Founders Peter Morris, Jean Morris, Evelyn Strunk surrounded by volunteers

Funds raised for Hugs and Kisses, Inc. cover living expenses for cancer patients in desperate financial need.  Students also qualify for scholarships based on their commitments to Hugs and Kisses.  And scholarships are also available for children of families affected by cancer.

“This is an exciting time for us, and we’re so happy that we can share this with the community at large,” said Jean Morris, founder of the Royal Palm Beach-based charity organization.

Hugs and Kisses raises donations to cover living expenses for cancer patients in desperate financial need. Teenagers volunteer and run all functions of the Center, which produces our own unique, trademarked bracelets that we give to our donors. They are also mentored in all parts of the business including accounting, finance, marketing, fulfillment, and website development, among others.

‘Right now, in your community, there are people who can survive their cancers – with existing technology – if they could afford to hold on,’ explained Hugs and Kisses Director Peter Morris.  ‘But if they can’t afford
to hold on, there’s always Hugs and Kisses.’

On hand to initiate the ceremony was Debi Leed, Palms West Chamber of Commerce Membership Director. ‘This is a great way to give support to our members, and to initiate them into the Central Palm Beach County community.’ Palms West Chamber of Commerce is a leadership organization which advocates for a healthy business environment, providing member services, benefits, education, and information for Wellington, Royal Palm Beach, Greenarcres, Loxahatchee Groves and The Acreage/Loxahatchee. Hugs and Kisses is also registered with HandsOn Network, which allows
volunteers to participate in the Give a Day, Get a Disney Day program, giving earning for volunteers a free day at Walt Disney World. Among other activities, The organization hosts ‘Parties with a Purpose’, where families or friends design and make Hugs and Kisses bracelets. Such is the kind of information prospective volunteers, their families and other community members heard at the open house event.

“If you’re interested, come in and see what we’re about,” Morris says. Those interested can attend in person at the location: 10131 Southern Boulevard in Royal Palm Beach, on the NW corner of Southern Boulevard and State Road 441.

*For more information, visit http://www.hugsandkissesinc.org.

In addition to our core styles, we present the 2-strand leather with our logo button that we give for donations of $10 or more (plus $2 for postage and handling if it’s being shipped).

Aqua 2-strand Hugs and Kisses with silver logo button

Black 2-strand leather Hugs and Kisses with silver logo button.

This enables us to thank donors with a nice gift between the  BASIC Hugs and Kisses we give for donations of $5 or more and our DESIGNER Hugs and Kisses we give for donations of $20 or more.

A representative will confirm sizes for all online and phone-in orders.

Visit the Hugs and Kisses Center in Royal Palm Beach, FL where you can see our mentored teens in operation, and choose from an endless selection of color choices to suit your wardrobe.

Otherwise, feel free to contact us via email or phone to discuss available styles that suit your wardrobe.

Enjoy!

Hugs and Kisses Center

Please join us in celebrating our Grand Opening of the brand new Hugs and Kisses Center on Friday, February 5th from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM.

• On the NW corner of Southern Boulevard and State Road 441.
(Between K-Mart and Bealls)
• Out of Towners can visit us during the event for live updates at:

FACEBOOK Hugs And Kisses, Inc.
TWITTER @HugsKissesInc
WEBSITE www.HugsAndKissesinc.org.

• Please RSVP to info@hugsandkissesinc.org or 561-819-9471.

The event kicks off the with the Palms West Chamber of Commerce ribbon-cutting at 5:00 PM followed by an Open House until 8:00 PM.

Donations are NOT REQUIRED but are ALWAYS WELCOME. In just one year, we began as a Relay for Life team and now have our own operations facility that evolved out of sheer demand.

What We Do At this location, teenagers volunteer and run all functions of the Hugs and Kisses Center which produces our own unique, trademarked bracelets that we give to our donors. They are also mentored in all parts of the business including accounting, finance, marketing, fulfillment, website development, etc.

Why It’s Important Right now, in your community, there are people who can survive their cancers – with existing technology – if they could afford to hold on. But if they can’t afford to hold on, there’s always HUGS and KISSES.

Funds raised for Hugs and Kisses, Inc. cover living expenses for cancer patients in desperate financial need. Students also qualify for scholarships based on their commitments to Hugs and Kisses. And scholarships are also available for children of families affected by cancer.

Earn a Free Day at Disney: We are registered at vop.handsonnetwork.org so you can volunteer in the Give a Day, Get a Disney Day program. Among other activities, we host “Parties with a Purpose” where families or friends design and make HUGS and KISSES bracelets.

Now Don’t Keep This a Secret. Please tell your friends and family wherever they are as our programs benefit people across America. Funds are always returned to the region from which they originate. Grants to Hugs and Kisses, Inc. allow us to assist patients beyond any amount of donations raised.

Dasco Manufacturing Shipment

We are so very humbled and further encouraged beyond words upon receiving a corporate donation of about 2,000,000 buttons from Dasco Manufacturing today.  Dasco manufactures the sewing kits that our military uses to maintain their uniforms.

These are buttons that were in their active inventory until uniform changes rendered these buttons obsolete.  They found us online.  This donation enables us to introduce a new military-themed line of bracelets to honor, support or remember active and veteran soldiers and their families who won, lost, or are still in a fight with cancer.  These new donated buttons will yield over 160,000 HUGS and KISSES bracelets in thanks for $1,500,000 in donations to the cancer patients we support.

If you donate via the PayPal link on this page, someone will call you to discuss available styles.

This marks the 4th unsolicited donation of buttons from corporations who recognize our efforts as deserving of support.  Every time this type of donation occurs, we increase the number of themed-lines of bracelets to attract donations from a wider audience.

To date, the corporations who have donated in chronological order are: Sher Plastics, Tiger Button Company, Dyno Merchandise, and now Dasco Manufacturing.

We’re introducing several Holiday bracelets in time for the 2009 season.  One we’re most proud of is “Soldiers Christmas” which uses authentic military uniform buttons with Christmas colors.

We thank these companies for their selfless generosity.  On behalf of the patients we support, we wish the very best for these companies and many HUGS AND KISSES to the people they employ this Holiday Season.

This is fantastic news that further validates our mission, objectives and practices as deserving of individual and corporate support.

We are pleased to inform you that contributions to Hugs and Kisses are deductible under section 170 and we are qualified to receive tax deductible bequests, devises, transfers or gifts under section 2055, 2106 or 2522 of the Code.

To inquire about how you or your company can help teenagers in the business of helping cancer patients survive in your community, call 561-819-9471.

Tell your story DIRECTLY to our government and have it posted RIGHT AWAY on Barack Obama’s website.  Read your fellow Americans’ stories and add your own.  The fight is not over.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/organizingforhealthcare2?source=issue_page

REVOLT! This is our chance to band together and force positive change.

Helen Becks 1937 - 2009

It took a week for Medicaid to admit their  mistake and reinstate my prescription plan.  That would be the longest week of my life.  Every breath and every heartbeat was exaggerated and accompanied with panic, fear, and finally defeat.

Within a week of restarting my medication I came down with pneumonia.  My life ends there.  Could it be that the interruption in my prescription  cost me my life?

There are so many Americans who still have a fighting chance to beat this disease as long as they have financial resources.

Read their stories.

Donate to Hugs and Kisses if you can.  If you can’t donate, then speak up and honor those of us who are no longer able to speak for ourselves.

Cancer is not a death sentence… Especially when caught early.  There are patients right in your community who could be saved with today’s technology, but they can’t afford treatment.  Your donation can literally save them.

(Told by Helen’s daughter, Jean.)

This LA Times article addresses how frank discussion between doctors and patients leads to more options and financial assistance for cancer patients with no means to afford treatment.