Missy Elliott, Pamela Anderson, Linda Evangelista, Among Celebrity Supporters of M.A.C Aids Fund Kids Helping Kids Holiday Card Program

NEW YORK (M.A.C AIDS Fund) - Kids Helping Kids is an annual holiday card initiative of the M.A.C AIDS Fund (M.A.F) with 100 percent of sales going to support pediatric AIDS programs worldwide. This year, the money from the sale of Kids Helping Kids cards and gift tags will directly help make treatment available to children and families with HIV/AIDS in Africa and other impoverished countries. Many celebrities support this campaign and use the cards for their personal holiday greetings including Pamela Anderson, Linda Evangelista and Missy Elliott.

To date, the cards have raised over $1 million. Last year in North America, Kids Helping Kids raised $170,000, and this year, M.A.F projects funds to reach close to $250,000.
The cards and tags incorporate artwork designed and submitted by children ages 5 to 15 who were invited by the M.A.C AIDS Fund to design cards with holiday and winter themes. M.A.F received over 250 submissions this year. Six final designs were chosen by M.A.C's creative team, led by Senior Vice President and Creative Director James Gager.
"In the past, the art kits for the children primarily included materials for painting and drawing. This year, for the first time, we gave the kids materials for collage which gave the submissions an entirely new, fresh feeling. The results were inspirational from the abstract to more universal expressions. Children's artwork is uninhabited and comes from a purely spontaneous place, and that is what makes this program so wonderful," says Gager.

Lilia Garcia-Leyva, Executive Director of the M.A.C AIDS Fund said, "The statistics on pediatric HIV/AIDS remain staggering. Every single day nearly 2,000 children around the world are infected with HIV, 1,320 children just in Africa alone. It is critical to bring treatment to the children and families in the impoverished countries where there is a severe lack of resources, and therefore we are focusing on that specific goal with this year's campaign."
Kids Helping Kids cards are $6 U.S/$8 CDN for six cards, gift tags are $6 US / $8 CDN for 12 tags. Both go on sale October 20, 2005 at M.A.C stores or online at https://www.maccosmetics.com.

M.A.F, the heart and soul of M.A.C cosmetics, was established in 1994 to support men, women and children affected by HIV/AIDS globally. M.A.F gives money to fund education, awareness and prevention programs world-wide and provides financial support to organizations serving those with HIV/AIDS and marginalized populations at a high risk of infection. To date M.A.F has raised over $50 million (U.S.). For more information, visit https://www.macaidsfund.org.