The Caring Hands Mission focuses on Kyäni’s commitment to making a difference: To bring hope to children in need by improving access to nutrition, sanitation, and education. From the beginnings of Caring Hands in 2010, Kyäni Caring Hands has worked to offer hope to those who have none, and to improve the lives of others throughout the world. Caring Hands is supported by Kyäni employees Kyäni Business Partners and Customers. Together we make a difference.
Caring Hands has performed service throughout the world, rendering aid in the event of disasters, coordinating service within our own communities, and organizing annual Caring Hands trips to perform hands-on service in areas that need it the most.
Kyäni has used its expertise in both nutrition and agriculture to develop Potato Pak–life-sustaining nutrition packs, which are donated by Caring Hands to those who lack the means to feed themselves. Each serving of Potato Pak is fortified with over 10 grams of protein and 34 grams of carbohydrates, along with essential vitamins and minerals, to deliver life-sustaining nutrition to people who have no means to feed themselves. It also meets all the nutritional requirements set forth by the World Food Program as a complete meal.
With the help of donors all over the world, Caring Hands has provided more than three million meals of Potato Pak for children and others in need across the globe.
Kyäni is also fulfilling its mission to improve access to education by upgrading and constructing schools in regions that are too poor to support the educational needs of local children. In the Chiapas region of Mexico, Kyäni has also constructed several remote university hubs that enable people in these areas to complete their university education online. Over 150 students are participating in these university programs, and those who have graduated are bringing both hope and prosperity to their communities by starting businesses, employing local people, and supporting their home towns.
As Caring Hands has grown and sought to expand its reach throughout the world, it has developed relationships with other charitable organizations with the expertise and infrastructure to help fulfill its goal to bring hope to children in need by improving access to nutrition, sanitation, and education.
In 2017, Caring Hands entered into a partnership with Convoy of Hope, a humanitarian organization that serves the needy in a variety of ways. Convoy of Hope delivers food, water, and medical supplies to areas suffering from natural disasters as well as long-term poverty, and they have partnered with the Caring Hands foundation and Kyäni to deliver hundreds of thousands of servings of Potato Pak donated by our Business Partners and Customers. With the Convoy of Hope, Caring Hands has been able to meet emergency needs and fight ongoing poverty around the world.
Caring Hands has partnered with the Red Cross in different countries around the world to help ensure the delivery of Potato Pak where it is needed most, as well as other emergency supplies including hygiene kits. In 2016, Caring Hands donated 7,200 servings to the Red Cross of Hungary. Previously, several volunteers had served in a local Red Cross center as well. The Red Cross presented Kyäni with an award for these humanitarian efforts.
Kyäni and Caring Hands have partnered with Idahoan to produce Potato Pak, a highly nutritious and delicious meal packed in ready-to-serve pouches that can be delivered in large quantities wherever there is need throughout the world. Idahoan has been creating dehydrated potato products with a stable shelf life since 1951. The innovative process preserves the natural flavor and texture, producing a high-quality product that’s satisfying and easy to store.
Every year, Caring Hands encourages Kyäni Business Partners and Employees to set aside one day to find a need in the local community and do something to serve. As a result, nearly a thousand projects have been organized and completed across the globe over the past several years. Dedicated Partners and Kyäni Employees have done everything from feeding the homeless to visiting the elderly, to painting homes, to organizing hygiene kits. Together, we have cleaned up parks, supported school improvements, and delivered meals and Kyäni products to people in dozens of countries. These acts of service help us give back to our communities and help demonstrate Kyäni’s commitment to making the world a better place.
Idaho Falls, Idaho is home to Kyäni’s corporate headquarters. Every year, Kyäni’s Employees go to work serving their local community in various ways. One year, Employees collected household goods including kitchen materials, bicycles, toys, and cleaning supplies to donate to a local center that houses refugees and helps them transition to new productive lives.
The Corporate Office also spent time doing work for a local humanitarian center. The humanitarian center gave all their resources to helping the less fortunate and did not have the time to take care of some of the items that would improve their facility. Employees put a new roof on the storage building that houses many of the goods they provide to the less fortunate, repainting it as well as the exterior of the main office.
Kyäni Employees recently celebrated six years of Caring Hands Day events by participating in a company-wide challenge to round up food for the Community Food Basket in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Dozens of Employees helped restock the food bank’s depleted supplies by collecting over 8,000 pounds of food from neighbors, friends, and their families over the course of two weeks.
Kyäni teams in Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Germany, Scandinavia, Italy, and other international areas commit to projects on Caring Hands Day that benefit underprivileged children in their communities. Whether it’s assembling bicycles, upgrading school facilities, or collecting donations for orphanages, our Business Partners work to ensure those around them receive the support they need.
Kyäni Business Partners around the world regularly participate in group projects that benefit children and families in need. They have worked on construction projects, gathered donations of clothing, household goods, and food, as well as provided warm meals. Many projects benefit homeless communities and children who lack access to proper nutrition and care. Donations to local food banks have helped keep food supplies stocked for families and individuals.
Caring Hands dedicates time and resources to making a long-term difference for entire communities in need of help and hope. Caring Hands regularly sponsors trips where Business Partners and Customers can donate their time, energy, and talents to improving lives. Caring Hands Service Trips have been held around the world, in South and Central America, Europe, and Asia. Caring Hands continues to impact the lives of people in communities in need today as well as the future. Check out our trips below!
Kyäni organized two Caring Hands Service Trips in 2019. A group of Business Partners visited Chiapas, Mexico again to work on expanding the building that houses the growing Kyäni University, an online school that enables students to work remotely on college degrees. Later in the year Partners visited Tanzania, where they helped prepare a one-acre field for planting, assembled a drip irrigation system, funded a new well, and planted vegetables to help in the nearby school’s nutritional program. Volunteers fed children Potato Pak at multiple schools, which is now part of their regular lunch program.
Following the 2015 construction of a high school in Chiapas, two dozen Caring Hands volunteers returned to Mexico to expand and renovate the school to support rapid attendance increases following an enthusiastic response by the community. While there, they also helped renovate another school in a nearby area. The work included structural improvements, bathroom and kitchen installations, landscaping, and recreation improvements.During the project week, the volunteers performed finishing work including painting and window installation. They also evaluated a new nutrition program that Kyäni started earlier in the year in which hundreds of children are fed Potato Pak every day to help them worry less about food and focus on their studies.
Kyäni Founders, Employees, and members gathered in Budapest, then drove to Miskolc to serve the elderly and intellectually disabled in a local government-run homeless shelter that was once a military facility. Volunteers worked with the Red Cross to distribute hygiene kits prepared by Kyäni Employees.While there, volunteers were also able to prepare and serve meals with Potato Pak for those living in and visiting the shelter. During this time, elderly residents of the shelter were also given the opportunity to talk, laugh, and play games with the volunteers, making it a fantastic experience for everyone involved.
In 2017, several Kyäni staff members and executives, including Founder Carl Taylor, visited the Houston area following the devastating storm and flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey. Dozens of Partners joined them in performing whatever service was needed to help people rebuild their lives. Joining with Convoy of Hope, they organized and distributed supplies to those affected by the devastation, and helped clear homes of damaged materials to help begin the process of rebuilding.
Kyäni representatives visited Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere. While there they met with an organization that provides meals to the needy in cases of disaster as well as to meet long-term needs, to discuss a potential partnership in helping to feed children. They also toured locations where charity work is providing for the needs of local children.Later Kyäni visited a remote village near the border and visited with the residents, to assess the possibility of providing assistance in a place where aid does not usually reach due to limited access and poor infrastructure. They also stopped to deliver dental supplies to another impoverished area.Finally, the Caring Hands representatives had the opportunity to prepare Potato Pak and serve it to local children, also leaving a supply with the cook for a local school along with preparation instructions. Volunteers also visited an albergue or shelter in the Dominican Republic that year that housed kids with physical and mental disabilities. While there, they worked on improvements at an orphanage and donated Potato Pak.
Kyäni gathered volunteers from throughout Asia, Europe, and the Americas to work with the Red Cross setting up feeding stations for children in some of the most impoverished areas around Manila. During the trip, volunteers fed thousands of children and arranged the donation of Potato Paks that will continue to feed these children every day throughout the year.
In the town of Chiapas, Caring Hands volunteers constructed a 12-room high school that would serve three communities that, before Kyäni’s visit, send their children to school in makeshift rooms with no electricity or running water. While there, Kyäni provided Potato Pak for the impoverished community, as well as free dental exams and treatments. Volunteers also brought with them hygiene kits, and taught classes in health and hygiene. Kyäni Founders also offered educational scholarships to several children, many of whom have now graduated and are attending college.
Along with volunteers from around the world, Kyäni Caring Hands constructed schools in two different villages where children did not have ready access to education. These buildings included electricity and running water, giving the children a clean, safe, and comfortable learning environment. In addition to the schools, Caring Hands also constructed a playground for the children and a football field. During the 2014 trip, volunteers brought with them the newly introduced Potato Pak, and were able to provide much-needed nourishment for the impoverished region.
Kyäni Founders saw a community in need in Ecuador and brought people together to construct a school in a region where children were walking up to two hours just to attend classes. With the aid of volunteers, and working with local government and community leaders, Kyäni Caring Hands donated the time and materials to build a school and a playground where children can benefit from an education in a comfortable facility near them. Many local residents turned out to help and to celebrate this life-changing service to their community.