KnoWEwell Spotlights Its Nonprofit Partners on Giving Tuesday

Giving Tuesday 2020 gave KnoWEwell the opportunity to recognize the contributions to global health and wellness of their nonprofit partners  

Kicking off the holiday season on a note of gratitude, KnoWEwell® took part in Giving Tuesday, the global day of giving held each year on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving to encourage acts of generosity. KnoWEwell celebrated the event by honoring their nonprofit partners and sharing the contributions these organizations make with a webinar series hosted by KnoWEwell Director of People Experiences, Jane Lynn Britton. Giving Tuesday, this year held on December 1^st, was founded in 2012 by the 92nd Street Y, a nonprofit New York City cultural and community center. Since then, the annual event has grown to include over 70 countries.

KnoWEwell founder & CEO, Kimberly Whittle, opened the event, explaining that her company’s mission is to assist individuals in their journey to achieve WELLthier Living™ and to help the whole of humanity and the planet heal and thrive. The KnoWEwell platform offers evidence-based knowledge and research, healing success stories, and data-driven healthcare directories.

Whittle explained that KnoWEwell is designed both for individuals, to enable them to make informed decisions about their health and find their best-matched provider, and for providers, to showcase their unique healing arts. KnoWEwell represents credible practitioners, including leaders and visionaries in the industry, who work to find the root causes of chronic disease. KnoWEwell, says Whittle, is truly transforming healthcare with the creation of a global healing community and marketplace centered in Regenerative Whole Health™ (RWH) knowledge.

Year-round, KnoWEwell donates 2% of net sales to its mission-aligned nonprofit partners. This includes 1% for the Planet, which goes to the traditionally underserved network of nonprofits centered around the prevention and treatment of chronic illness. KnoWEwell also established the 1% for WELLthier Living initiative, donating 1% of revenues to organizations that inspire hope and support families. On Giving Tuesday and throughout the month of December, KnoWEwell will donate 50% of total revenue to their nonprofit partners.

The first webinar speaker, Dr. Tabatha Parker, executive director of the Academy of Integrative Health & Medicine (AIHM), emphasized that the current health system is in need of change. AIHM endeavors to use scientific evidence gathered from all global healing traditions to create a new model of healthcare that takes into account the needs of the whole person. Dr. Parker, who has an extensive background in naturopathic medicine, explained that the engagement of a global community of health professionals and health seekers is needed in order to transform medicine and health. AIHM offers training for medical professionals to understand whole-person systems and integrative approaches. The organization is dedicated to building a global community to promote comprehensive, affordable, sustainable person-centered care.

President and founder of eFundYourHealth, Phyllis Johnson, said she established the organization after her son was healed of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis using alternative treatments and therapies. Originally named the Crohn’s Colitis Nutrition Foundation, eFundYourHealth provides funding, lodging, and expertise for those who need help as they fight illness. Johnson said that often nonconventional, integrative healthcare options are not covered by insurance.

Funding available through eFundYourHealth, which operates like a crowd-funding site, allows people of all economic levels to access integrative medicine. After referral to eFundYourHealth by a practitioner, the patient can build a campaign, raising money through family and friends. eFundYourHealth then solicits grant funds from corporations and passionate survivors, enabling patients to raise money for treatment through team effort.  

Chief impact officer Jeff Tkach represented the Rodale Institute, an organization that aims to heal people and the planet by unlocking the transformational power of farming. Known for over 70 years as the pioneer and global leader of regenerative and organic agriculture, the Rodale Institute puts science and education behind the mission of farming without herbicides and pesticides. Tkach said Rodale helps farmers all over the world transition away from chemical dependence.

Tkach explained that the current mode of farming is systemically broken and farmers need to move in a healthier direction. The Rodale Institute works to empower farmers and consumers through education, offering courses and on-location guidance. The organization helps conventional farmers take their knowledge of agriculture and combine it with organic practices. Tkach believes it’s important that consumers learn about agriculture. During WWII, 45% of all produce was grown in back yards. Today, 17% of all the food eaten in the US is imported from other countries. The founder of the Rodale Institute, J. I. Rodale, operated under the premise that healthy soil equals healthy food equals healthy people.

Executive director of the Holistic Moms Network (HMN), Andria Somers, said HMN is geared to families interested in holistic parenting, holistic health, and green living. HMN works to generate awareness, providing education and support. Somers said her life changed when she attended her first HMN meeting in 2012, adding that the heart and soul of the organization is to connect families through volunteer-led chapters and intentional communities across the country. HMN was begun in 2002 by Nancy Peplinski of Essex County, New Jersey, and has since grown to include chapters across the US.

HMN groups meet in public venues once a month, and all are welcome. Members are encouraged to respect one another’s views, offer support, and learn from each other. HMN follows seven guiding principles for holistic parenting: make informed and educated parenting decisions; seek respectful and nurturing relationships with others; actively participate in one’s own healing process; balance and integrate physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of being; teach children to respect and care about the natural world; limit children’s exposure to advertising, marketing, and a consumer-driven culture; live more simply and consume less. According to Somers, being supported by a network of like-minded individuals, free of judgment, makes all the difference. HMN recognizes that while everyone is on their own path, they journey together.

Dr. Natalia Sofia Aldana Martinez represented the Virtual Health Library on Traditional, Complementary, and Integrative Medicine (VHL-TCIM), a multipurpose resource with a database of scientific and technical health information. Dr. Martinez, who practices acupuncture and homeopathy, teaches TCIM in Colombia. According to her, VHL’s mission is to be a “network of networks” and a global reference point. The organization connects institutions that formulate policies with health professionals and researchers to develop programs and educate the public about TCIM.

VHL-TCIM works in numerous countries to improve access to reliable information that is relevant for local communities of health professionals, researchers, academics, educators, decision makers, and the public. Research teams build the database, which includes projects and research of interest to the area. The goal of VHL-TCIM is to develop inclusive and sustainable systems of health as the world advances toward universal healthcare.

Dr. Dawn Ewing, executive director of the International Academy of Biological Dentistry & Medicine (IABDM), concluded KnoWEwell’s Day of Giving with a webinar focused on the tooth-body connection and how to resolve health problems using dentistry. Founded in 1985 by Ed Arana, DDS, and Gary Verigin, DDS, IABDM is a network of dentists, physicians, and allied health professionals committed to integrating body, mind, spirit, and mouth in caring for the whole person. Dr. Ewing, a naturopathic practitioner, licensed emergency medical technician, and author of Let the Tooth be Known, said IABDM aims to show the public, dentists, and physicians that they need each other. Holistic approaches such as ozone treatments and chelation therapy are used.

The mission of IABDM is to educate, Dr. Ewing said, adding that most people don’t realize there is a connection between the mouth and overall health. She explained that each tooth is connected to meridians within the body, and a root canal or other dental work can impinge on the flow of energy, causing illness elsewhere in the body. Dr. Ewing discussed the dangers of the neurotoxin mercury, which many people have in their fillings. The mercury leaks into the body and is stored in organs and body tissue. Dentists certified through IABDM view the patient holistically, looking at the whole body. They work in conjunction with naturopathic physicians and holistic specialists to detoxify the body and promote healing.

Founder and executive director of Epidemic Answers, Beth Lambert, shared the efforts of her organization to educate the public about the epidemic of chronic illness that is affecting youth. Epidemic Answers was established ten years ago and has been working to help parents find healing solutions. Lambert is author of A Compromised Generation: The Epidemic of Chronic Illness in America’s Children and founded Epidemic Answers as she saw that conditions such as ADHD, allergies, autism, diabetes, and autoimmune diseases were increasing at epidemic rates. More than half of American children are currently afflicted with a chronic illness.

With a vast educational library, Epidemic Answers provides online resources, a variety of therapies and healing approaches, a practitioner directory, and research. Their Documenting Hope Project provides evidence-based studies to show that hope is possible for children with chronic illnesses. By making the studies available to the mainstream medical community, they hope to educate practitioners about chronic conditions, which are often preventable and reversible. If nothing is done, Lambert says, the trajectory of children being diagnosed with chronic illness will continue to go up.

Host Jane Lynn Britton closed the Giving Tuesday webinar event with gratitude to viewers for the generosity of donations to KnoWEwell’s nonprofit partners. KnoWEwell and its partners share the mission of bringing about meaningful change in the health of people and the planet.