Project Archive

Since 2009, XANGO has been supporting Cambodia with continued shipments of XANGO Meal Pack. Donated by generous XANGO Distributors and delivered by our distribution partner, AmeriCares, Meal Pack is making a real difference in the lives of impoverished and malnourished Cambodians.

XANGO and AmeriCares is working with non-profit organizations led by the Sihanouk Center of Hope (SHCH) and supported by other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to distribute Meal Pack to those in need across Cambodia.

The effects of the Meal Pack are encouraging, to include:

• 9 in 10 children moving from “underweight” to “proper weight” category within a period of six weeks of supplementation
• Improved nutrition and outcomes for expecting mothers and their delivered children
• Children who no longer have to search for a noontime meal to attend school more regularly.
• Those with long-term illnesses, such as HIV/AIDS, more effectively manage the disease.with Meal Pack supplementation
• Expectant mothers who use Meal Pack are delivering babies with a healthy birth weight.

Cambodian recipients not only suffer from a lack of resources and proper nourishment (no more than a few rice kernels a day), but many do not have access to or education about the benefits of clean water and sanitation. A cash grant given by XANGO in February 2010 allowed SHCH to purchase water purification supplies to ensure the safe use of Meal Pack. The grant also provided Meal Pack storage containers and scoops for 436 families, water filters for 380 families and kettles and water tanks for 200 families.

Of XANGO’s donation SHCH’s Community Programs Coordinator Chhavelith Vanthada said, “Every day I meet the poor and they lack food. Even when they find food to eat, they need more nutrition. With XANGO, they feel healthier and gain weight. This is most evident with the children. And measuring the before-and-after weights of our patients has allowed us to see the real long-term impact of XANGO. The community really appreciates it. This donation also provided us the opportunity to educate the community about clean water and acute diarrhea…The health authorities in Cambodia always recommend a strong emphasis on nutrition, particularly for those on Anti-Retrovirals (ARVs), but there is no funding available for this. With this donation, we were able to fill this gap.”

XANGO Distributors’ generous support of the XANGO Meal Pack program is making a tangible quality of life improvement. With renewed hope, medical workers at SHCH and Meal Pack recipients are counting on long-term Meal Pack availability to help ease suffering in this part of the world.

Children’s Wish Foundation International is dedicated to bringing joy and happiness to children with life-threatening illnesses around the world. To date they have created memorable experiences for more than 14,000 families in 53 countries. As the title sponsor of the 2008 XANGO Wishmaker Parade for the Children’s Wish Foundation, XANGO and its Distributors volunteered with thousands of others to raise more than $1.46 million to grant wishes to children with high risk, life-threatening illnesses.

In 2010 XANGO was thrilled to partner with Children’s Wish Foundation and RSL to grant the wish of Tymaz, a 13-year-old leukemia survivor. Tymaz and his family travelled to South Africa, where they attended the championship game of the FIFA 2010 World Cup on July 11, courtesy of XANGO.

” XANGO Goodness has been a generous and valuable corporate partner of Children’s Wish since 2008, and their support has been critical in helping hundreds of children such as Tymaz realize one of their most heartfelt wishes ,” Said Linda Marco, Director, Development, The Children’s Wish Foundation of Canada.

“Tymaz has fought a battle that no child should have to endure,” said Gordon Morton, “We are just thrilled with his progress, and to be able to work with Children’s Wish, TFC and RSL to help make his dream a reality and give him an experience he will never forget.”

XANGO has supported the international children’s charity SOS-Kinderdorf through a specific donation to help fund activities in the Schleswig-Holstein village, located near the town of Lujtenberg, close to the Baltic Sea.

SOS-Kinderdorf’s northernmost village in Germany, the Schleswig-Holstein village houses 55 children in 12 family units. Operating for more than 30 years now, the village provides assisted living, residential care, non-residential family assistance, and education and training measures for young people ranging from remedial instruction to social work projects and career guidance.

Since 1949, SOS-Kinderdorf has been active in the field of children’s rights and committed to children’s needs and concerns. In 132 countries and territories, this international non-governmental social development organization focuses on providing housing and a stable family environment to children without parental care and with difficult family circumstances.

Organizing villages throughout the world, SOS-Kinderdorf builds housing and educational facilities that support full-time living for these children. Volunteers serve as parents to the youth and raise them as part of family units. The work of the volunteers is admirable in that it requires sacrifice and dedication on the part of these loving individuals to provide stability and care to the children in need. Most SOS-Kinderdorf graduates end up going on to complete their university studies and find success in their careers. XANGO is pleased to support this valuable work to lift the rising generation of German youth.

XANGO is proud to have been involved in the University of Utah’s Barekuma Village Project in Ghana, Africa. Each year, the impact of this continuous project is enhanced with a focus on education and sustainable solutions to long-term village needs. The University’s work here includes providing medical care, training for doctors and other health professionals in Ghana as well as a census of the local population. Additionally, the sustainable development effort, sponsored by XANGO, introduced new sanitary facilities (built by the villagers), the hiring of new school teachers, and the continued education of the villagers on best health practices. This includes a malaria prevention study, a continued community census, and prenatal care education to expectant mothers. New drinking water facilities and improved commercialization of local farming resources is helping to ensure long-term success for villagers and self-reliance. Last but not least, the village youth received a new soccer pitch—just one more way to enhance the quality of life for these villagers.

Meal Packs have been used as a nutritional supplement, bolstering an existing vitamin program, which helps strengthen pregnant women, infants and children in the villages of Nkawkaw and nine other surrounding areas. Chronic malnutrition is a major contributing factor to the high incident of pre-natal defects and infant mortality in this region.

Meal Packs have been distributed to support orphanage and school feeding programs mainly in areas affected by recent hurricanes around Port au Prince and also in the farming belt of central Haiti.

Reports from these projects demonstrate that the students have shown notable weight gain and improved mental acuity, because of improved nutrition. School attendance has also increased, because students do not want to miss their meal.

In 2008 and 2009 XANGO was the title sponsor of Vitamin Angel’s India program. Through its Vision 20/20 program, Vitamin Angels is focused on eradicating global Vitamin A deficiency.

In 2009 alone, Vitamin Angels reached 4.5 million children around the world. XANGO is pleased to provide monetary and other resources to help propel this vital program in India. As a result of XANGO’s support through monetary contributions and other resources, Vitamin Angels administered a total of more than 3 million doses of Vitamin A to Indian children in remote regions of this grand country, in just two years. Quite literally, this program is saving lives.

Vitamin A deficiency is caused by chronic malnutrition and lack of red, green, yellow and orange, leafy fruits and vegetables. The consequences of this deficiency can lead to childhood blindness, as well as death from measles, diarrhea and malaria. By giving each child just two Vitamin A tablets per year – at a cost of 25 cents per child – Vitamin Angels is helping to ensure these children lead healthy lives and enjoy a brighter future.

XANGO is proud to have contributed to this wonderful program and changed countless lives in India.

• XANGO Helps Save Eye Sight and Lives in India
• XANGO Sponsors Vitamin Angels India program

XANGO is proud to support Operation Smile Italy through the donation of a new dental chair for the first Italian Smile House. The Smile House is a wing of the Hospital S. Paolo-Polo Universitario of Milan which is dedicated to treating children with cleft lip and cleft palate facial deformities.

XANGO began its involvement with the Yokohama Family House initiative (House of Lila) in March 2006. Each year, XANGO staff assisted fundraising efforts by volunteering for charity concerts that benefit the House of Lila. Completed in June 2008, the House of Lila provides rooms for families who need to stay near the hospital where their children receive medication and intensive care. This has allowed fewer families to endure separation from their children. The House is highly valued by both families and the hospital, and XANGO is pleased to have supported this worthy initiative. (include video)

Following the devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami, XANGO worked with our partner AmeriCares to provide relief to those hit hardest by the disaster. By contributing monetary support XANGO bolstered the tireless efforts of AmeriCares to bring relief and comfort to survivors. We were especially grateful to our Distributors whose outpouring of concern and generosity at this time made our contributions possible.

Meal Packs have been distributed to support feeding programs in refugee camps near Kisumu.

Estimates are that more than 300,000 people across Kenya have been displaced in this most recent round of violence, with Kisumu at the focal point of much of it. Bravely, volunteers have distributed Meal Packs to those refugees most in need, helping to alleviate one concern for these people.

XANGO has been a proud sponsor of several Operation Smile missions to Guadalajara, Chiapas and Tlaxcala Mexico in which Founders Joe Morton, Kent Wood and Bryan Davis have been personally involved.  Our Partnership with Operation Smile in Mexico has provided life-changing surgeries to over 500 children and adults to date.

In the fall of 2010 thousands of XANGO Meal Packs were distributed on Monterrey and Veracruz Mexico in response to terrible flooding in those areas. Affected residents received Meal Pack along with other disaster relief supplies. The nutritious and easy to prepare meal replacement was an important asset in helping victims recover from destruction caused by the flooding.

Meal Packs have been distributed to provide food and medical supplies to tens of thousands in the Irrawaddy Delta, who lost their homes and livelihoods because of Cyclone Nargis.

Here, getting Meal Packs to the population requires bravery by volunteers, who secretely have crossed the border from Thailand to access the population.

One beneficiary is a father of four, who lost two children and his wife in the floods. After saving his two surviving children from the floods and reaching higher ground, the Meal Packs help nourish his family, which had been in survival mode for days.

In September of 2010 The Order of Malta in Nicaragua received XANGO Meal Pack to support the organization’s ongoing work of addressing malnutrition in children, pregnant women and the elderly living in impoverished areas of the community. Meal Pack was distributed to families through schools and churches, to elderly residents in nursing homes and to malnourished children in a number of rural communities.

Meal Packs have been distributed to the Philippines to victims displaced by Typhoon Megi. In October 2010 Isabela province in the Philippines was hit by Megi, a category 5 typhoon. In preparation for the oncoming storm local government and military evacuated residents from the low lands of Luzon saving them from death and injury but the typhoon caused large-scale destruction of rice fields resulting in greatly diminished food supplies. Typhoon victims taking refuge in AmeriCares’ evacuation centers benefited greatly from the timely donation of XANGO Meal Pack.

The Ajuda de Mae (Help for Mothers) organization of Portugal. Ajuda de Mae is a private, non-profit organization founded in 1991. It plays a critical role in trying to provide the best start possible for children born in somewhat difficult circumstances, and to help their mothers learn critical parenting skills.

XANGO’s monetary support helped provide an entire nursery which will house 8 newborns, 28 children from 12 to 24 months old and 30 toddlers from 24 to 36 months old. As a company, we admire this organization and are proud to make an investment in the future of Portugal’s children. We commend all involved with this effort.

During the last week of August 2010, as part of the Season of Smiles, XANGO helped fund Operation Smile’s first mission to the remote area of Ulan Ude, Russia. In the course of one week 55 children, born with either a cleft lip or a cleft palate, received life-changing corrective surgeries from volunteer surgeons and medical staff. These 55 patients included 5 orphans one of whom, Salan Solun-ool, is a 19-year-old art student and XANGO distributor.

Solun-ool grew up without parents in Tuva, Russia located in southern Siberia. With a dream of becoming a painter, Solun-ool enrolled in art school when he came of age. In the summer of 2010 he met a group of XANGO distributors and decided to join XANGO so he could earn money for school while studying. Little did Solun-ool know that his decision to join XANGO would not only provide a way for him to earn an income but also lead to free corrective surgery that would change his life forever. When Russian XANGO distributors learned of plans for the Operation Smile mission to Ulan Ude, they made sure Solun-ool would be there.

“Salan Solun-ool’s story in Russia is a microcosm of what we’ve seen throughout the Season of Smiles – the strength of XANGO’s global network and the power that exists when many caring people lend their talent and resources to provide life-changing opportunities for others,” says XANGO Founder Joe Morton. This story is the perfect example of how, partnering together, XANGO and Operation Smile are changing lives, one smile at a time.

XANGO Distributors, employees and customers in Singapore partnered with the Association for Persons with Special Needs (APSN) whose mission is to equip persons with special needs, through best practices in education, training and support services, for open employment and life-long learning. XANGO Singapore hosted their friends from APSN for a day spent making airplanes from created toy aircrafts using XANGO cartons, tissue rolls, Glimpse tubes, etc., for the Build Your Own Airplane activity.

Through activities like this one, young people with intellectual disabilities were given a chance to develop new friendships, gain valuable self-esteem, and be better integrated into society and the workplace and XANGO is proud to be part of that.

XANGO is a proud sponsor of the Children’s Charity Association of Taiwan. The mission of this charity is to promote initiatives to care for disabled, sick and underprivileged children.

In 2008, XANGO helped fund a series of summer camps that provided music therapy to the hearing-impaired. Through long-term music rhythm courses, the Association helps these children cross over into the world of sound and build up their confidence in interacting with people around them. Since 1996, hundreds of children have benefited from the services provided by this worthy charity, which has plans to expand beyond the borders of Taiwan.

In May 2010, XANGO accompanied Operation Smile to Thailand for the first time as title sponsor of a very special Operation Smile mission. Hosted by Chonburi Hospital in Chonburi, Thailand, XANGO Founders Aaron Garrity and Joe Morton and Distributors spent a week volunteering alongside Operation Smile personnel and medical team members.

By helping to fund medical supplies, organize volunteers and provide travel and surgical costs XANGO helped Operation Smile provide nearly 100 children and youth with surgery to correct cleft-lip and palate deformities. Chonburi was chosen as the mission site due to its proximity to some of the mangosteen orchards from which XANGO harvests some of its product, offering an opportunity for the children of the orchard workers to receive surgery.

Sponsoring an Operation Smile mission to the rural area of Chonburi, Thailand was an especially sweet experience for XANGO as it meant giving back to the place where Joe Morton discovered mangosteen and where so much of XANGO’s success originated. Founders Joe Morton and Aaron Garrity were accompanied on this mission by Distributor volunteers 1K Chang Hong, 500K Anton Garrity and his son Garrett and Premiers John and Billy Jo Machklovitz. The group was able to bring smiles to another 60 children when they visited a Thai orphanage where they played with the kids, gave out toys and delivered requested necessities like flour, cooking oil and soap—and even Juni™ Gentle Care Products.

Notes Operation Smile Founder and CEO Dr. Bill Magee “You may never have the chance to meet these children in person, but rest assured they will thank XANGO and its founders forever for their generosity in making this happen.” Operation Smile is a worldwide children’s medical charity that is dedicated to helping improve the lives of children born with cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities.

Thanks to the efforts of XANGO distributors to build their businesses and raise money for this trip through the XANGO Goodness Foundation, many children and their families in Thailand have a new hope and opportunity. Each day, we proudly partner with Operation Smile to “Change Lives, One Smile at a Time.”

XANGO has worked with numerous worthy charities in the US as well as other deserving non-profit organizations. Some of these include:

• The McGruff National Crime Prevention Council – Made famous by its iconic mascot, “McGruff the Crime Dog”, who reminds all to “take a bite out of crime,” McGruff works to protect children from harm and predators through neighborhood organization and support of law enforcement.
• Best Buddies – Founded in 1989 by Anthony Kennedy Shriver, Best Buddies is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to enhancing the lives of people with intellectual disabilities by providing opportunities for one-to-one friendships and integrated employment. Best Buddies is a vibrant, international organization that has grown from one original chapter to more than 1,400 college, high school and middle school campuses across the country and internationally. Each year, XANGO sponsors Best Buddies Day, which allows students from the local chapter to partner with a XANGO employee “buddy” for a day to learn about their job and spend quality time and entertainment together. Many XANGO employees remain in contact with their buddy many years after making the initial introduction.
• Children’s Organ Transplant Organization (COTA) – In 2008, XANGO provided a level of funding to this organization that enabled approximately 20 children to receive life-saving transplant surgeries.
• The National Ability Center (NAC) – Based in international winter sports haven, Park City, Utah, the NAC enables people with disabilities to enjoy outdoor recreation and strengthen their self-confidence as well as the beliefs of their loved ones. As the Platinum Corporate Sponsor of the NAC’s Recreational Ski Program, XANGO is proud to support the organization’s worthy endeavors to improve the lives of every individual and their loved ones through defying barriers and demonstrating the will of the human spirit.
• Drew Brees Foundation – In the wake of Hurricane Katrina and its destructive effects in 2005, XANGO teamed up with NFL Quarterback Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints on the Rebuilding Dreams in New Orleans project. This initiative’s aim is to identify tangible community projects, such as sports fields and youth centers, to send the message to the kids of New Orleans that they are not forgotten. XANGO was the first corporate donor to assist in this far-reaching project. At the kick-off event in New Orleans on June 16th, 2008, Bob Freeze, XANGO’s VP of Corporate Communications, presented the first check for the project at Lusher Charter School, where XANGO funded the rebuild of the school’s sports courts.Most of the initiatives for this project have now been completed, and the children of New Orleans again have renewed opportunities to participate in recreation, education and other activities.

Meal Packs have been distributed to support medical and feeding programs in rural villages and health clinics.

While global charities are struggling to make a difference, the Meal Packs have been distributed by a partner charity run by natives who seek to make a sustainable impact on living conditions in their own country. As they move toward greater autonomy and elevate prospects for better lives for their children, the Meal Packs served are strengthening those on the brink of starvation and helping fortify them for the many other challenges that remain.