What is KitePride?
Upcycling
We add value to high performance materials that were heading for the trash and value to the lives of people in need of new hope and a second chance at life.
We repurpose used kites into trendy, lightweight, durable and beautiful products made with you in mind.
Want to donate your kite? Click here to fill in a donation form.
Fashion Products
The idea originated when a young kite surfer in Switzerland designed a product out of a broken kite sail. It was then that kite.pride quickly took off. Since her handing it over to our social business A.I.R. in 2016, we have worked on different designs to create the products everyone loves.
Want to take a look at our unique, colorful and social products? Click here for more information.
Creating Jobs
OUR SOCIAL BUSINESS IS PROVIDING ATTRACTIVE JOBS AND BASIC INCOME
By creating jobs that boost people back into the work force, we are supporting and encouraging men and women exiting the sex industry as they learn to live a new life. We teach our employees teamwork and reliability and punctuality while at the same time allowing them to work through past trauma.
Our employees are hired on an hourly rate, which is set according to their expertise and experience. They work between 6-8h per day, depending on their current health situation. Their salaries are paid according to average Israeli income, 1200$—2000$.
Sponsor an Employee
The nature of our employees’ situations include facing difficult life challenges, which can lead to inconsistency and down time in production.
Help us cover costs created by the social part of our business.
Coaching
Our Senior Employees are a part of the different teams in our business. Through the One-On-One teaching of our supervisors, they learn what it means to work in a team, to cheer each other on without rivalry, and learn very important practical life skills such as punctuality, reliability, and how to budget their salary. In an effort to coach our employees into leadership positions, we work with them to learn valuable leading skills such as showing self-initiative and taking responsibility. We invest about 750$ each month for this.
Education
On average we spend 90 $ a month to help our employees develop their skills. We commission professional seamstresses and designers to work alongside them on a regular basis. This provides them with valuable input, expanded trade knowledge, and keeps the business current and advancing.
Food
With just 60$ each month, we provide a daily home-cooked hot meal for the entire team and eat together with the goal of fostering a family atmosphere and teaching about good nutrition. We use this as a therapeutic method, since most of our employees have never had this experience.
Referals
There are costs from extra time invested in finding and referring to outside sources of assistance when they have a problem. For an average of 75$ a month, we can assist our employees in finding the right doctors, psychologists, counselors, legal advice and cover unexpected health expenses.
Become a Sponsor
With the support of donors, we can cover the gaps in production and help our employees to become independent, whole and competent, and ready for employment outside our safe work environment. This is where you come in.
With a donation of just $50 a month ($600 yr), we can close financial gaps, stabilize production, and make employee care more successful. Another bonus – when you commit to sponsoring an employee for at least a year, you receive a unique KitePride bag with a personalized card and product label from one of our employees.
Preview - Sponsorship Information Flyer
Preview - Sponsorship Confirmation & Information
You can be a huge part of the solution!
Stories That Inspire Us!
- Independence Joseph's Story Read how the Sponsorship Program helps our Employees to become independent.
- FREEDOM Saida's Story How your contribution makes a difference in a families life.
- Making a difference Our Sponsors Read why our current sponsors support this program and what inspired them to partner with us
Joseph's Story
At kite.pride, it is our heart’s purpose to give our workers the stability to feel safe, confident, and prepared enough to eventually leave us and venture out on their own into new dreams they have. We desire to help them completely move out of their old life and into a new successful one. Joseph’s story is one of where our purpose is being fulfilled and his. He came from a life of being forced to sell himself as a female from the age of 15 to 35. He has since then returned to life as a male and is no longer in the sex trade. Determined to make it on his own, he was on the brink of homelessness and hungry many times. After learning how to sew with an Israeli organization, he found that design was something he enjoyed and was good at. Since being under our work program, Joseph has grown so much in confidence and has grown stronger in his talents and abilities. So much so that he has now begun his journey towards his dream of starting his own small business & fashion label!
It is your help through our Sponsorship Program that will make it possible for us to enable him to meet this dream through mentoring and giving the supervision he needs to start his business. He will continue to work with us at kite.pride 50% of his time while using the rest of his time to start up his own business to design clothes. He currently has already acquired a 50 sq meter location and is renovating it. Your support is so crucial to Joseph’s future goals and to so many others with us. To see someone come from a past so riddled with hopelessness and go into a future where they can be all they were destined to be is a joy that is more than words can express. Sign up here to sponsor Joseph and other kite.pride employees today!
Saida's Story
At KitePride, it is our heart’s purpose to give our workers the stability to feel safe, confident, and prepared enough to eventually leave us and venture out on their own into new dreams they have. We desire to help them completely move out of their old life and into a new successful one. It is also our great hope that they find a family with us that they have never experienced and they feel included in a caring community that loves and appreciates them. Saida’s* story is one of where our purpose is being fulfilled.
Saida* felt rejection from a very early age. When her mother was pregnant with her, her dad made it known that if she did not have a boy, he would leave her. He did not want another girl and would marry someone else who could give him a son. He kept that promise. At an early age she had to work to help raise her siblings, including putting her brother through school, and was declined the opportunity to pursue her dreams. As a young Palestinian woman she was a product of an abusive arranged marriage to an Israeli who turned out to be a drug addict.
In the past this would have granted Saida* Israeli citizenship as well. However, she only received temporary residency but never could complete the process to permanent residency or Israeli citizenship due to separation because of her husband’s violence and time in prison. After the couple got together again the law changed. Since 2003 Palestinians no longer receive Israeli citizenship even if they are married to Israelis.
The case has been referred to the Humanitarian committee reviewing this unusual situation to make a decision. We are asking that she be granted the A-5 visa, which she did have in the past, because it will at least give her an Israeli ID and social and medical benefits in Israel.
Coming to KitePride has changed her life in many ways. Thanks to our unique legal entity we have been able to offer her far more than just a job. She is able to learn how it is to be loved unconditionally without the overwhelming feeling of rejection. Saida* says that kitepride is the first place she has ever felt like she was included, needed, and wanted. She also says that she has a family now that she knows she can depend on and who will always treat her with love, dignity, and compassion. At KitePride she feels like she has a home. Finally. Your support has allowed this to happen and your sponsorship of her will help us to pay for her legal case and court costs and will allow her to continue to be able to stay in Israel with us, her family, which will help her to eventually transition into a new life of freedom, wholeness, and independence.
Her story is just one of many where the help of generous and empathetic people has changed the life of someone forever for the better. To see someone come from a past so riddled with hopelessness and go into a future where they can be all they were destined to be is a joy that is more than words can express. You can be a part of that joy.
Thank you
*name changed
Our Sponsors
«I'm happy to be involved with KitePride and the work they are doing with human trafficking. I think more people would be involved with these issues if they just knew what to do and were confident the organization they were supporting was being responsible with the funds they're getting. After talking with Matt several times, I'm convinced that Glowbalact and Kite.Pride are effectively helping these folks out of prostitution and giving them the chance to be the people God made them to be. Good job guys!!» B.N
«I never knew the world of human trafficking and the fate of its victims until I attended a talk a few years ago where I heard a speaker talk about the atrocities of such an industry. The notion of human trafficking and the fact that it exists in the 21st century was devastating and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Since then, I have become an active volunteer with Glowbalact in order to make an impact in the lives of those involved in the sex trade industry.
Now, being a mum, it is harder to be actively involved due to time restrictions. However, in order to feel as though am still making a difference and impacting the lives of those less fortunate, I have decided to become a sponsor.
I believe that through every donation, it helps support a person re-enter the workforce.» Melissa Lischer
"Je me suis décidée rapidement pour le parrainage car c'est une manière simple, rapide et concrète d'aider dans la lutte contre le trafique humain. Je me suis décidée à parrainer ce projet car je peux me sentir proche des femmes et de leurs besoins tout en restant chez moi. Je veux montrer à ces femmes qu'elle ne sont pas seules et que d'autres personnes dans le monde pensent à elles, croient en elles, et apprécient leur travail!" C. O.