Board of Directors

Cynthia T. Kennedy, Esq.
President, ATNI

Jennifer Cleary
Treasurer, ATNI

Steven Harrison
Author

John Odom, M.D.
Orthopedic Surgeon

Wendell Wallach
Business Consultant

Advisory Council

Joe Braidish

Executive Director, ATNI

Margaret Cleary

Rehabilitation Nurse

Scott Dimetrosky
Non-Profit Executive Director

Dorje Dolma
Surgery Recipient

Tsering Dolma
Surgery Recipient

Rick Doty
Certified Public Accountant

Michael Friedenberg
Real Estate Broker

Jill Kamon, M.D.
Pediatrician

Jon Krakauer
Author

  David Spiegel, M.D.
  Pediatric Orthopedic Surgeon

Contact ATNI

Post Office Box 7111
Boulder, Colorado 80306
U.S.A.

+1 720.565.8777 (voice)
+1 303.447.1511 (facsimile)

info@alltogether.org

www.alltogether.org

Drolma Arrives in Colorado!

Fifth Child Brought to the United States

For Life-Saving Surgeries

Her name is Drolma Lhamo. Nearly 18 months ago, we were given a photo of this young orphan girl (now 10 years old) that showed a twisted spine and a beautiful smile. The simple question was: Would we help? Our course, we knew we had to try.

With the generous and compassionate help of ATNI donors and supporters, we have been able to bring Drolma to the United States for a series of life-saving surgeries. During the next two years, Drolma will undergo multiple surgeries interspersed with traction therapy to treat her advanced condition. Her corrective surgeries are being donated by Shriners Hospital in Los Angeles.

After more than a year of hard work to secure permission for Drolma to enter the US, she was met in Tibet and escorted back to Denver by Jeannie Kreykes of Windsor, Colorado. She was then introduced to her new family in Longmont – Lewis and Stephanie Geyer and their two-year old daughter, Madeline. Drolma is shown below dressing up with Madeline. Drolma is enrolled in a third-grade class at Longmont’s Mountain View Elementary School, where she has made many friends. She loves attending school, and her language and writing skills are improving quickly.

ATNI’s Vision

All Together Now International …

is a leading developer of innovative programs and visionary alliances that promote international peace by creating greater economic, educational, and health care opportunities for impoverished people in some of the world’s poorest regions.

ATNI’s Mission

Our mission is to advance in underdeveloped countries unique programs that foster self-sufficiency, personal responsibility, and community building while addressing people’s most basic human needs. Our core program involves the design and replication of health delivery system prototypes for the prevention and treatment of spinal diseases in children.

We promote other innovative, locally sustainable programs that …

► provide housing and education to destitute or orphaned children.

► deliver requisite health services to impoverished women, promoting their health and enabling them to provide greater care and support to their families.

► create economic self-sufficiency for impoverished women through learn to earn programs that give them the necessary knowledge and skills to manage their own small businesses.

v HIGHLIGHTS IN THIS ISSUE

· 5^th Child Arrives in USA for Surgeries

· Our Vision and Mission Statements

· News & Announcements

· Volunteers & Sponsors

· Creative Ways to Donate

· Financial Information You Can Use

This Issue: Leaving a Legacy

· Project Updates

News, Announcements, and Activities

JOE BRAIDISH joined All Together Now International in early October as our new executive director. Joe will be responsible for providing strategic direction and managerial leadership to our board development and fund-raising initiatives, our program coordination and public relations activities, and our administrative, operational, and organizational development processes.

Most recently, Joe was director of research and consulting services for Kelley Executive Partners, a unit of Indiana University’s Advanced Research and Technology Institute and the executive education arm of its Kelley School of Business. Prior to this, Joe spent 25 years with a number of Fortune 500 and 1000 companies.

ATNI NETWORKS WITH OTHER NON-PROFITS SERVING NEPAL. Through the organizing efforts of Boulder physician, Barry Bialek, representatives of five Boulder based groups that support Nepalese projects gathered for an informal dinner in early October. ATNI joined this dialogue with the Nepal Community Development Foundation, Friends of Nepal, the International Mountain Explorers Connection, and Planet-Med to discover and exploit the natural synergies in our work efforts in order to create greater capacity to serve.

John Krakauer’s Everest ‘96 Memorial Fund continued its support of ATNI as our grant request was approved for a fourth straight year. Also, the Mulago Foundation is in the process of renewing its generous gift to ATNI to advance our support of Nepal based HRDC.

OUR VOLUNTEERS and Sponsors ARE GREAT … A sincere “Thank You” to Kristen Schubert, Josh Nobles, Jade Ryan, and Tracy Reiner for the generous offer of their time, energy, and talent. Their contributions are highly valued and greatly appreciated. Thanks to COPY EXPRESS and 3J’s MAILING SERVICE for helping us with the reproduction and mailing of this newsletter. Also, thanks to FRESH PRODUCE SPORTSWEAR for providing clothes for Drolma.

Last year at this time, we announced a special ATNI BENEFIT CONCERT scheduled for January 25, 2003. Just following up to let you know that the concert was a great success – with the proceeds going to help ATNI and other Colorado charitable organizations. We extend our warmest appreciation to our sponsors for the event, all those who helped plan for and host the event, our concert headliners and Grammy nominees, R. Carlos Nakai and Nawang Khechog, and special guests Ty Burhoe, Roshan Jamal, and the Tibetan Association of Colorado Dance Group.

A Special Gift Idea for the Holidays

Unsure about what to give to that very special person? You can make a donation to ATNI in their name, and we’ll send them a specially printed holiday greeting acknowledging your gift. You’ll both enjoy this special way of giving.

A Variety of Ways to Donate to ATNI …

DONATE via CREDIT CARD: When you visit our website, www.alltogether.org, you can make a tax-deductible donation by simply clicking a button. Clicking the DONATE NOW button on ATNI’s home page will take you right to the Network for Good site, where you can make your contribution. 100% of your donation goes directly to ATNI. The Network for Good site is a VeriSign secure site, and all funds are electronically transferred to ATNI’s bank account.

ATNI is happy to offer our donors the option of online giving through our relationship with Network for Good. Network for Good is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to stimulating philanthropy, volunteerism, and involvement among Internet users, and to helping nonprofit organizations strengthen their relationships with supporters.

SHOP AND GIVE THIS HOLIDAY SEASON: Visit www.iGive.com when you shop online this holiday season, and a portion of each purchase from your favorite merchants will be donated to ATNI. The iGive.com shopping mall houses nearly 500 online sites, including such popular merchants as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Lands’ End, Eddie Bauer, Gap, Ann Taylor, Neiman Marcus, Dell, Circuit City, Brookstone, Harry and David, Hallmark, PETsMART, 1‑800‑FLOWERS, Spiegel, and many more.

It’s easy. Here’s how it works … Visit the iGive.com site and join for free, registering ATNI as your favorite cause. Then, each time you make a purchase from one of the iGive.com merchants, a portion of that purchase will be given to ATNI. And, for each initial purchase made within 45 days of joining, iGive.com will give ATNI an extra $5.00 on your behalf.

Leaving a Legacy

"You make a living by what you get,
you make a life by what you give".

- Winston Churchill

From time to time, many of us ask ourselves,

· What will my legacy be?

· How do I want to make a difference?

· What do I want to give to others, and what values do

I want my giving to reflect?

It’s important to all of us to understand the impact our giving has on others and, ultimately, on the legacy we will leave. This helps us gain more clarity and focus regarding our philanthropic inclinations and goals. Making a difference with our giving is both challenging and, when done right, highly rewarding. Leaving a gift to a charitable organization such as ATNI is a deeply personal decision. Should you choose to do so, here is some helpful information.

To ensure that your designated charitable organization receives the gift, you need to state your intention in your will. Some sample bequest wording is: “I give, devise, and bequeath to All Together Now International, a non‑profit corporation, <description of property> for general purposes or of the specific purpose of <description of purpose>.

Project Updates

HRDC – Spinal Surgical Center for Children

All Together Now International has been helping for several years to fund Nepal’s first and only spinal surgical center for children, the Hospital and Rehabilitation Centre for Disabled Children (HRDC), located near Kathmandu in Banepa, Kavre, Nepal. Through the generosity of many ATNI donors, HRDC has been able to meet its projected costs for 2003, and to continue the spine program activities into 2004.

HRDC’s objective is to identify spine problems early during childhood, and to institute effective management plans for these young patients. The Centre’s efforts are focused on very poor children, most of whom are less than 16 years old. In addition to dealing with the spinal disease processes occurring in their bodies, these children also deal with severe socioeconomic disadvantages and the social stigma that accompanies all of this.

The HRDC spine program involves center based screening, case selection, patient management including operative and non-operative treatment, a special spine clinic for surgical intervention when necessary, and requisite patient follow-up. Additionally, HRDC operates 50 mobile clinics each year that travel to remote parts of Nepal. Through August of this year, 28 suspicious cases were identified and recommendations for further investigation were made. Also, a school screening program has been implemented to look for cases for early intervention and to explore the epidemiology of spine problems in Nepal.

HRDC has made great strides in the recognition and intervention of spinal disorders in Nepal. During the last three years, 100 children have been treated with spine problems, ten schools have been screened, with a total of 4,185 students being evaluated. Some specific patient examples are the following. Tsering, a four-year old boy who stood only two feet tall due to kyphosis, was treated with surgical intervention which stopped the progression of the disease which would have lead to paralysis. Kamal Jit Tamang, a twelve-year old suffering from tuberculosis of the spine causing paraplegia, was also treated with surgical intervention and is expected to be walking normally soon. Eleven-year old Priyanka Thakur from India had surgery to correct congenital scoliosis of the thoracic-lumbar region. Her postoperative and recovery periods have gone well. Priyanka’s case is an example of HRDC’s policy to accept and treat patients irrespective of national boundary

The spine program has accomplished many goals and has shown promising results. However, HRDC aspires to reach and treat more children by: developing programs to continue spinal screening, introducing new screening methods, training CBR (community based rehabilitation) workers, recruiting spinal registrars, enhancing the skills of all the staff, and acquiring new equipment and instruments.

HRDC relies greatly on the donations provided by ATNI to support existing and future programs that are helping to make a difference in the lives of so many disabled children. Please help us continue our support of HRDC.

`Kala Raksha – Arts Preservation Through Artisan Cooperatives`

In our last newsletter, we reported that ATNI was helping to fund a building project in Kutch, India, led by Kala Raksha.  The goal of the project was to rebuild a home for each family in Sumrasar Jatwali, one of the worst affected of nine villages that were devastated by a 2001 earthquake.  In June of 2002, construction of 124 homes in Sumrasar Jatwali was completed.  Twenty five percent of the total construction cost was donated by ATNI.

More recently, Kala Raksha has embarked on the Resurgence Project, an exhibition of narrative work that provides an opportunity for the artisans of Kutch to express their thoughts and feelings about the earthquake and its impact on their lives.  The artwork they created was drawn directly the trauma they experienced and from the feelings of fear elicited by that trauma - fear of imagination, fear of retribution, and generalized anxiety.  This Resurgence Project gave the artisans of Kutch the opportunity to share their experiences of the earthquake, while at the same time enlighten other villagers on the tradition of craft.

Kala Raksha is now working to find a long-term solution to the sustainability of art and craft.  Two problems operate simultaneously for artisans.  One, how to earn a fair living in an industrialized economy by doing handwork, and two, how to nurture the creative spirit of traditional art in the face of commercialization.  Kala Raksha is beginning to answer this dilemma with its most recent projects, the Learning for Earning basic education program, and Kala Raksha Vidyalaya, the Design School for Artisans.  Learning for Earning is a customized educational program in which artisans teach one another very useful topics such as basic business skills, personal accounting, and time management.  The training has also introduced the teaching artisans to computer-aided design.  A far more ambitious project, Kala Raksha Vidayalaya, is envisioned as a self-sustaining school for design, where education will be fee based.

All Together Now International accepts donations on behalf of Kala Raksha.  Supporting the artisans with your donations will help create literate, socially responsible, and economically self-sufficient women who will create a positive impact on their people and country.

Other Projects Supported by ATNI

Shanti Sewa Griha – a home, workplace, and medical clinic for people with leprosy

Nepal Children’s Home – two centers that provide housing, medical care, and education to more than 100 abandoned children

ROKPA International – a service group that feeds hundreds of people per day, runs an emergency medical clinic, and provides foster care to many children