Safe Sleep Partnership
I am proud to announce that Kappa Alpha Psi Fra- ternity Inc. is officially partnering with the Global Infant Safe Sleep (GISS) Center, a national organi- zation created to help communities reduce infant sleep-related deaths and promote healthy infants and lifestyles. The GISS Center was founded in 2016 by Dr. Stacy D. Scott, a 30-year public health advocate who has worked from the government agency level to ground zero spearheading numerous outreach programs nationwide. Each year, 13,000 African American babies die before their first birthday, and the infant mortality rate keeps climbing. I want Kappa to show its support for the GISS Center’s Campaign: Celebrate 366 Giving Drive to raise $100,000 for community events, crib giveaways and mini-grant programs in 2018. The “366” symbolizes one day after a baby’s first birthday. The campaign runs through December 31, 2017. The promotion of Infant Safe Sleep and Fatherhood Matters are important initiatives for Kappa. I’m proud that in the past two years, working with Dr. Scott, the GISS Center and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), we have donated more than 500 cribs, ed- ucated thousands of Kappa brothers and families and conducted outreach programs and events nationwide to reverse this trend. Our First Lady Silhouette Geraldine Battles is the GISS Center’s national spokesperson for its Change a Tradition, Change a Position Campaign. This year, she travelled around the country, speaking to grandparents, parents, caregivers, and even teens, about the impor-
tance of safe sleep practices.
To continue this great work, I’m asking every Kappa to donate $3.66 or more to support the Campaign: Cel- ebrate 366 Giving Drive. Your donation will help fund: • The Infant Safe Sleep Mini-grant Program, providing $1,000 grants • Purchase portable cribs for families in need • Arrange community events to educate par- ents, family members, and caregivers Make your donation today. Put your chapter’s name in the memo box provided: • Text “Give” to 614-412-3050 • Click the Celebrate 366 Donation button to donate by credit or debit card • Go to the website at www.gisscenter.org • Send checks to: C.A.R.E. Community (please write GISS in the memo line), 124 East Baltimore Street, Suite 209, Jackson, TN 36301 This is an important initiative for Geraldine and me. Let’s help more babies celebrate their first Birthday!
Thank you!
Thomas L. Battles, Jr., Grand Polemarch
Silhouette Geraldine Battles, First Lady
Publishing achievement for more than 100 years
THE JOURNAL FALL 2017 | 145
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