Jewel Launches KISS FOR COUNTRY Campaign

August 11, 2008

Singer-songwriter Jewel, along with the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation (MKACF), kicked off the second annual A Kiss For Country campaign last week, this time to benefit a domestic violence shelter in Nashville.

“[The campaign] involves country music superstars who basically get to kiss a piece of paper, we sign it and auction it off,” explained Jewel. “It helps raise money to end the cycle of domestic violence. I was at the [Country Music Awards] last year and was very impressed with how it was run, and what a great cause it is. Domestic violence really is a cycle that needs to be stopped.”

“We could not be happier to have Jewel as our spokesperson,” said Karen Rogers, MKACF founder’s granddaughter and VP of Board of Directors. “She has had some hardships in her life and so we felt like her generosity and her dedication to these issues would make a perfect spokesperson for us. She’s been terrific.”

“Domestic violence is an important issue to me,” says Jewel, “because one in three women are abused at some point in their life, especially if they’re homeless. I was homeless for a year myself when I was 18 years old. I ended up homeless because I had a boss that asked me to have sex with him, and when I wouldn’t he wouldn’t give me my paycheck and I was kicked out of where I was living. You’re very vulnerable when you’re living on the street. So I actually wrote a single called Stronger Woman to talk about a woman’s responsibility to help herself and her fellow women.”

MKACF has contributed over $11.5 million to domestic violence shelters. See which celebrity puckers are being auctioned for the Kiss For Country campaign.

For more information click here: http://www.marykay.com/company/takingastand/default.aspx