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Mary Kay Spokesperson, singer-songwriter, Jewel has just announced the cosmetic company’s second annual “A Kiss for Country” promotion. The announcement came Tuesday morning at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville Tennessee.

Jewel and Mary Kay were on hand last night in Nashville for the annual CMA awards. Mary Kay is the proud beauty sponsor of this year’s award show, and the company even gave a lucky winner an all expense paid trip to the event.

The Kiss for Country campaign helps raise money for the awareness and prevention of domestic violence around the United States. Over 60 artists participated in the campaign in which they kissed and signed special Mary Kay prints that will be auctioned off for charity.

For Jewel, the spokeswoman of the campaign, this is a cause near and dear to her heart. The singer, who once faced homelessness at 18, said, “I experienced firsthand the fear and vulnerability that a lot of women experience, especially in abusive relationships. … Domestic violence is a preventable problem — and it’s fixable.”

Among the more than 60 celebrities who kissed cards and wrote insprirational messages of hope were Jewel, Reba McEntire, George Strait and LeAnn Rimes.

The prints are now available through auction on uBid.com.  100% percent of the proceeds from the auction will go toward domestic violence prevention programs around the country.

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Mary Kay held a press conference this week to announce the launch of its 2nd annual philanthropic project, “A Kiss for Country” Campaign. The Campaign aims to help improve the lives of woman and children who are affected by domestic violence.

This years spokesperson for the campaign will be three time Emmy award winner, singer-songwriter, Jewel. Jewel has had success both as a mainstream artist, and most recently as a country singer. This season, she has been appearing as a judge on Nashville Star, on NBC.

The campaign asks celebrities to sign specially designed “Kiss Cards” that are then auctioned off. One hundred percent of the proceeds from the auctioned off cards, go directly to the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation’s programs to end domestic violence. The Mary Kay Ash Foundation has donated over $11 million dollars to aid domestic violence shelters across the country.

Jewel says that she feels honored to have been chosen for the project, “It’s a topic that’s close to my heart. I was homeless for a year and saw first hand how sometimes the streets can be safer than what’s at home.”

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AVON, along with almost 1000 runners, braved the heat last week to take part in the Need for Speed Relay Against Domestic Violence. The event, in its third year, featured over 100 teams from 17 different states who came together to raise money to help victims of domestic abuse.

The race, held in Rockland and Westchester counties in New York, was a 50 mile course, split up into 9 legs. Because of the heat wave in NY last week, officials had to cut the race short, although several teams managed to cross the finish line before the early cut off.

Among the teams participating was the team from the Joe Torre Safe at home foundation,-www.joetorre.org- which featured Ali Torre, wife of Joe Torre, former New York Yankees manager, who is now the LA Dodgers manager

The fundraising efforts of participants brought in over $220,000 dollars and AVON said that more donations are still coming in. With the money, the Avon Foundation will present grants to local domestic violence programs that help women and children in need.

“The annual Need for Speed Relay allows runners to enjoy competition and camaraderie while raising funds and awareness to help end the cycle of domestic violence, which affects people of every age, race, gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic level,” explained Carol Kurzig, Executive Director of the Avon Foundation.

While the crazy heat wave definitely put a slight damper on the annual run, the company was pleased with the outcome and is excited about not only the turnout and the amount of money raised from the event, but are excited about the donations that keep coming in. If you want to donate, you can still do it at the official Avon Need for Speed Relay site.

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