20 Years in the Making!!!

About twenty years ago my wife, keepers, and I had a vision of a foundation that would help people surviving child abuse and multiplicity, it was called The Emily Ann Foundation, we even got it incorporated in our home state but we had no idea where we were heading with it or how to proceed. My boss at work at that time was the one who got it incorporated and gave keepers their first support in their artistic endeavors. Eventually it "died" and it was no longer on the states records as ever existing and I know that Harold still believed in keepers and their vision of a foundation to help others.

As keepers delved deeper into their artwork they let other keepers come out and do their artwork, let others write their poetry, their viewpoints. Eventually they decided they wanted a website to display their art, their poetry and to begin their forum for multiples and abuse survivors.

The first attempt was very crude and minor league, based on a canned software package a friend of mine setup for us, but I understand pcs so little I couldn't maintain what he started.
Then we took the leap to a webmaster in our area who we contracted with to build us a new website, still Keepers Korner but a new setup. He and his wife built it for us at considerable expense, at this point keepers wanted to sell their artwork on the internet if at all possible.

As time passed we were frustrated with this webmaster, with the site itself and the lack of interest in the artwork, or so we thought. Then they had their first gallery showing and saw that people were interested in their artwork, but also that it was "specialty" artwork, as the gallery owner called it.

Well, we fired our webmaster and found Blue, she met with us and keepers took their portfolio with us and when keepers and I saw her first draft of the new homepage we knew she was the one to design the third version of Keepers Korner! She incorporated keepers artwork into the site, putting artwork alongside articles and in the galleries at the top of pages, etc. As soon as the site was up we began receiving awards from other sites!! Wow were we excited.

Still, no selling of artwork though, and Blue told us not to expect to sell art over the internet, she had run a gallery for awhile herself and from her experiences doubted we could market it successfully. She was right, but something else happened...keepers started a blog and on their blog they wrote about what they had experienced in their life, what had made them multiples, what they felt and how they overcame and still struggled over osme things, how their children walked away and I hung on with them.

The more keepers wrote, the more comments they got. After a while it became obvious that other survivors and multiples were visiting the site as we visited theirs and left comments on their blogs. We were finding others who had this commonality, survivors of abuse many of whom are multiples, not all but many.

Then, in July 2006, after meeting with Pastor Brown, a friend who had helped us in a family situation several times, keepers knew what direction to go in. On the way home they said, when we get home send Blue an email, take all of the Paypal info off, all prices, nothing is for sale anymore. She had decided to turn Keepers Korner into a ministry of sorts, a site dedicated to helping others like Keepers in any way possible, if someone saw a picture in the gallery or a poem in the poetry gallery write us and let us know and we will mail you a print.

We got a toll free number for US, Canada and the Virgin Isalnds, need to talk, call us! We put up blogs about softies, stuffed animals, waterfall fountains, are your littles sad and lonely, are you alone at Christmas? Let us know and we will send your littles or inner child a gift just for them.

Why? To let them know that someone cares and wants to show them they mean something to someone. So they are not alone. So, we began the paperwork, to make Keepers Korner a legitimate charitable organization. This past week we received the papers back from the State of Missouri, Keepers Korner is incorporated as a not for profit charitable organization! Now we have sent in to the Federal IRS the forms asking for federal exemption. We don't know if we qualify but we are trying. But, after 20 odd years we know that Harold who originally got us incorporated is smiling down on us, for not giving up, for doing it again, without his help, but knowing he is still helping guide us.

Keepers Korner would have kept on doing what it is doing with or without the recognition from Missouri, this just makes Keepers and myself and harold so much more proud than ever before, a validation if you will, that we are sincere, that we will not give up, that Keepers Korner will grow. So we thank Harold and Blue and Andrzej for all they have done to get us here, we are so thankful to each of them.

To Keepers, keep up the good work, your dream, which has also become mine, is just unfolding before you, bit by bit, and I know we have a long way to go, but we will and it will be side by side, all the way.

Please feel free to visit us at http://www.keeperskorner.com and see where we are heading and who we are helping.

peace and blessings to each of you

John Michael