EMAIL DETAILS

Great article! So nice to see all the familiar names from our special trip. I remember well are impromptu visit to the brightly painted home Abezash had created for the children. It was a really special afternoon. Thanks for reminding me. I'm sorry I missed her fundraiser but will definitely make a donation.

Hope to see you soon. With David off in Italy, maybe you need to organize the Ethiopia/Ghana reunion;)

Cheers and happy holidays to all!

Kathleen

Sent from my iPhone

On Nov 30, 2012, at 9:47 AM, Tony Fratto <tfratto@hamiltonps.com> wrote:

> Fantastic! And yes - I've downloaded the album & continue to push it!!
>
>
> On 11/30/12 9:36 AM, "Jamie Drummond" <jamie.drummond@one.org> wrote:
>
>> Tony - great piece and wonderful youve stayed in touch with her- sorry to
>> miss your party, will be in Dar es salaam...revisiting a similar site,
>> where we filmed for American Idol gives back a few years ago, seeing how
>> that project is going.
>>
>> meanwhile, we trust youve all got everyone you know to download Tiestos
>> remix of U2's pride...lets make it Number ONE on WAD...
>>
>> cheers
>> Jamie
>>
>>
>> ________________________________________
>> From: Tony Fratto [tfratto@hamiltonps.com]
>> Sent: 30 November 2012 14:27
>> To: Sandy Berger; Jackie Fuller; Megan Smith; ssmithellis@gmail.com;
>> Hunter Biden; Kathleen Biden; John Sununu; Lynn Taliento; Joshua Bolten;
>> colin@joinred.com; Seb Bishop; tfreston@firefly3.com;
>> JdeBaubigny@kpcb.com; williamsbarrett@aol.com; aklake@earthlink.net;
>> William.flanagan@mtvstaff.com; williamsbarrett@aol.com
>> Cc: Tom Hart; Ginny Wolfe; Michael Elliott; Tyler Denton; Morgana
>> Wingard; Molly.aker@joinred.com; Jamie Drummond
>> Subject: Our friend from Addis...
>>
>> Hello, everyone ­ I hope you've all been well. I don't know if you
>> remember Abezash Tamerat ― we met her in Addis during our ONE Campaign
>> visit there a few years ago. She's the young Ethipian-American woman who
>> ran a home for HIV+ orphans in Addis Ababa. Below is a wonderful story
>> in today's Washington Post about Abezash and the annual benefit she holds
>> here in DC. If I remember right, I think Lynn, Kathy, Jackie, Megan,
>> young John Sununu, and Hunter and Kathleen Biden & I commandeered a van
>> and made an impromptu visit to her home ― & we saw beautiful kids getting
>> heaps of love and care.
>>
>> I've stayed in touch with Abezash since our visit, and she and her family
>> have become close friends of my family. Abezash still runs the charity
>> and is frequently back in Addis, but she now has 2 kids and lives in the
>> DC area. And proving this really is a small world, Abezash's husband,
>> Million Fikre, works in my old digs at the Treasury Department.
>>
>> Anyway, I wanted to update all of you on how Abezash is doing and also
>> let you know about her fundraiser tomorrow night in DC. Here's the link
>> for more information if you can attend or if you can support in any way:
>> http://www.artistsforcharity.org/.
>>
>> Oh, and if you're in DC, feel free to attend my fun holiday party ― 7pm,
>> December 13 at the Sofitel Hotel.
>>
>> And if I don't see you, have a wonderful holiday season. t
>>
>> (& apologies if I left some off this list ― I don't have David Lane's new
>> email address, or Ben & Josh, and some email addresses have changed.
>> Please share for me!)
>>
>> http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/benefit-to-help-raise-funds-for-orphan
>> s-with-hiv-in-ethiopia/2012/11/27/fd9ca928-3804-11e2-b01f-5f55b193f58f_sto
>> ry.html
>>
>> Benefit to help raise funds for orphans with HIV in Ethiopia
>>
>> *
>> [http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/sites/twpweb/img/icons/icon-minus.png]
>> <http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/benefit-to-help-raise-funds-for-orpha
>> ns-with-hiv-in-ethiopia/2012/11/27/fd9ca928-3804-11e2-b01f-5f55b193f58f_st
>> ory.html#>
>> [http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/sites/twpweb/img/icons/icon-plus.png]
>> <http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/benefit-to-help-raise-funds-for-orpha
>> ns-with-hiv-in-ethiopia/2012/11/27/fd9ca928-3804-11e2-b01f-5f55b193f58f_st
>> ory.html#> Text Size
>> *
>> Print<http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/benefit-to-help-raise-funds-for-
>> orphans-with-hiv-in-ethiopia/2012/11/27/fd9ca928-3804-11e2-b01f-5f55b193f5
>> 8f_print.html>
>> *
>> E-mail<http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/benefit-to-help-raise-funds-for
>> -orphans-with-hiv-in-ethiopia/2012/11/27/fd9ca928-3804-11e2-b01f-5f55b193f
>> 58f_email.html>
>> * Reprints<http://www.washingtonpostreprints.com/>
>>
>> By Tamika L. Gittens,
>> <http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/benefit-to-help-raise-funds-for-orpha
>> ns-with-hiv-in-ethiopia/2012/11/27/fd9ca928-3804-11e2-b01f-5f55b193f58f_st
>> ory.html#license-fd9ca928-3804-11e2-b01f-5f55b193f58f> Published:
>> November 29
>>
>> When Abezash Tamerat, 31, an Ethio­pian American artist, established her
>> nonprofit group, Artists for Charity, in 2002, it was to help save a rape
>> crisis center on the verge of losing funding.
>>
>> But a year later, the focus of her group changed.
>>
>> While visiting Ethi­o­pia to learn more about where she came from,
>> Tamerat met her young cousin, who was homeless and HIV positive. She
>> tried placing him in various facilities, but they all had either reached
>> capacity or turned him away because of his condition. When she eventually
>> found a home for him, she noticed a bigger problem: Numerous children
>> were battling similar struggles, once taken in by relatives only to be
>> abused or abandoned because of their disease.
>>
>>
>> Tamerat returned to the United States with a greater sense of awareness
>> and commitment to help Ethi­o­pia. She continued having art events and,
>> in 2005, Artists for Charity opened the Children’s Home in Addis Ababa,
>> Ethiopia.
>>
>> On Saturday, World AIDS Day, the organization will host its sixth annual
>> Holiday Benefit and Art Auction to help raise money for the Children’s
>> Home. The event, at 7 p.m. at the District Architecture Center, 421
>> Seventh St. NW, will include artwork by local and international artists,
>> live entertainment by Ethiopian-born American R&B singer Wayna and
>> traditional Ethiopian food and drinks. Tickets are $40 in advance, $45
>> the day of the event.
>>
>> Artists for Charity’s Children’s Home provides housing, meals, medical
>> treatment and counseling to HIV-positive orphans. Children are enrolled
>> in school and are given routine physical examinations, antiretroviral
>> medications and other treatments.
>>
>> “If you water a plant, it will grow. If you give a child the basics, they
>> will thrive,” Tamerat said. “We wanted the kids to feel like they had a
>> home.”
>>
>> Tamerat said her organization’s approach to talking “honestly and openly”
>> with children about HIV distinguishes it from other groups. It has also
>> enabled the children to take better care of themselves and each other,
>> she said.
>>
>> “None of these kids are supposed to be alive,” Tamerat said. “It’s like
>> seeing something come to life. I am so proud of them all. I’ve been able
>> to watch them grow.”
>>
>> Cera Mattingly, 30, assistant to the executive director, said Artists for
>> Charity is unlike any other organization that she has worked with because
>> the group encourages overall success for each child.
>>
>> “AFC is run with an incredible amount of integrity,” Mattingly said.
>> “Each child is valuable and important.”
>>
>> Artists for Charity is funded by donations from individuals and
>> organizations and operated by volunteers throughout the United States,
>> Canada and the United Kingdom. Not all volunteers are artists. Many work
>> in other professions, and volunteers collectively have raised more than
>> $80,000.
>>
>> In 2007, volunteers Hanna Tadesse and Bethel Tsegaye were students at
>> George Mason University. While visiting Ethiopia, they volunteered at the
>> Children’s Home and were transformed by the experience.
>>
>> “We felt connected to Ethiopia and the children and wanted to stay
>> connected,” Tsegaye said. “We volunteered ourselves to raise money from
>> home.”
>>
>> Balancing classes and exams while organizing a fundraiser proved to be a
>> challenge, but they relied on their personal networks to organize the
>> first auction. The benefit is now the group’s s leading fundraiser.
>>
>> “There was a need, a scary one. Kids were thrown out. What does that do,
>> eradicate the problem? It only hurts communities. We never failed those
>> kids, no matter what was raised,” Tadesse said.
>>
>> For the group, the measure of success has been the progress the children
>> have made, including one who started college in September.
>>
>> For information, visit
>> www.artistsforcharity.org<http://www.artistsforcharity.org/>.
>>
>>
>> Tony Fratto
>> Hamilton Place Strategies
>> 805 15th Street NW, Suite 700
>> Washington, DC 20005
>> Office: +1-202-822-1205
>> Mobile: +1-202-550-5895
>> tfratto@hamiltonps.com
>> www.hamiltonplacestrategies.com
>> Twitter: @tonyfratto
>>
>> This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and
>> intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are
>> addressed. If you have received this email in error, please notify the
>> system manager. This message contains confidential information and is
>> intended only for the individual named. If you are not the named
>> addressee, you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this email.
>> Please notify the sender immediately by email if you have received this
>> email by mistake and delete this email from your system. If you are not
>> the intended recipient, you are notified that disclosing, copying,
>> distributing or taking any action in reliance on the contents of this
>> information is strictly prohibited.
>