Reprinted from The Rider, May 2015.
Editor's Note: The horse world has lost an incredible person on January 25th. Kimberly Dawn Hanna, owner of Kicking Cowgirl Designs, tragically lost her courageous battle with breast cancer. Our hearts go out to the family and friends, especially her husband Cory and son Noah.
I first met Kimberly 10 years ago at the Can-Am Equine Expo in Markham, Ontario. We published a story on her humanitarian missions to Africa and have followed her wonderful story ever since. Here is a reprint of that first story from our May 2015 issue.
Kimberly Dawn has three passions: God, Africa and all things that represent Country/Western living like horses. As a small child Kimberly Dawn had always wanted to travel to and work in Africa. She finally saw that dream come true in 2009. Her first trip was to Senegal with the Women’s Ministry from her church. Then she was on to Kenya, where she happily worked in the slums and loved spending time with the children there.
After being in Kenya for two weeks, she felt God was leading her to work in Kenya on a full part time basis. She came back to Toronto to gather more supplies and head back off to Kenya for a total of 3 years She spent as much time in Kenya as she did in Toronto and it became a home for her. She would come back to Toronto, raise more funds, and collect more goods and then head back to Kenya.
She finally came back to Toronto after 3 years of constant traveling back and forth and took some time off due to health issues but heard a new calling and was often found feeding the homeless in downtown Toronto.
Then one day she got a phone call and she was packing up again. In the last 3 years, she has worked in Uganda with “WORLD EMBRACE” with Reynold and Kathy Mainse. Kathy and Kimberly Dawn have made several trips together setting up the new ministry there in Uganda. They have witnessed so many powerful things happening in Uganda, helping to build mud huts for families moving them from slums to the country with a new lease on life. Most importantly, they build unity within the different tribes of Uganda. You may remember, there was a total separation within Uganda once the LRA was in power. Unity is so important as the country is currently re-building. That is where “”World Embrace” comes in to play.
To fund all of this, which is not cheap.... Kimberly Dawn needed a fund raiser. After all the smaller short term fund raisers in the past, this time she felt they needed to fund an ongoing ministry. "This is not something that will be one or two trips and then it will be finished, but it will be going on for years and as there are so many people to reach around the world, it just doesn’t end in Uganda, it can far exceed that." Kimberly Dawn and her father had been kicking around a Western theme clothing line for a few years, but with Kimberly Dawn’s travels they just never had time to follow it through. When the list of needed supplies came from Kathy in Uganda, Kimberly Dawn read the list and her shoulders dropped as she saw the long lis, she broke down in tears, saying.... "how can I raise the money for all of this? The needs are so great." She felt overwhelmed by it all but after sleeping on it, she woke up with the plan that her and her father had been talking about for years... The country western T-Shirt line that might save them.
Kimberly Dawn went into over drive planning and brain storming with the help of many friends. Her girlfriend, Dana, from her church youth group days, donated the time and designed the KCD logo. "It's probably one of the best designs out there... It just shouts western yet screams Kimberly Dawn’s and Dana’s personality with the diamond studded buckle logo". Another family friend, Phil, donated his time for the inside logo to be printed on each shirt, the round logo is clean and neat and perfect for the inside size tab. Kimberly’s friend Carrie, from young adult group at Church, has been a constant help and supporter and extremely instrumental with the beginnings of KCD productions of designs of Graphic T-shirts. A portion of all proceeds are going to Africa. It’s been an exciting ride for Kicking Cowgirl Designs. Kimberly Dawn has been able to share about her two loves all wrapped up together... Africa and her country western apparel line, KCD.
Photo Above: Kicking Cowgirl Designs Grand Opening June 2020.
Kimberly Dawn is schedule to take a team to Africa sometime this year and is making another trip in the winter of 2016. When speaking to her, you can feel her passion and love for the people of Africa. She glows when speaking about her Ugandan family, as she refers to them. Her heart beats for the children there, the stories she shares, her fun loving nature and her zest for life and her cheerful personality just bubbles. Her new love for KCD is evident as each new design for a t-shirt, tank, hoodie or trucker hat comes off the production floor.
Kicking Cowgirl Designs has been invited to several shows to exhibit her goods. They've already attended the Motorsports show in Toronto, the All Equine Show in London and the Can-Am Equine Expo in Markham and are looking forward to attending, Holstein Rodeo, Havelock Jamboree and the Uxbridge Fall Fair, just to start. You can find Kicking Cowgirls on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Etsy, and Pinterest.
Kimberly is taking in donations of all kinds, as simple as soccer balls, footballs, any type of sports equipment as well as monetary with a tax receipt given of any donation over $50.00 from World Embrace. Kimberly Dawn is available to speak at functions, sharing her passion, her stories from Africa and her life story. You can reach Kimberly Dawn at KCD@starhollywood.ca.
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After we published this story Kimberly send if a heartfelt thank you letter:
WOW!!!!!! WOW!!!! WOW!!!!I
'm in awe of this article. I shed a few tears after reading this. All this hardwork and I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
hank you for this. I can't express how much this means to us. I want to sign up for the year subscription.
Once again THANK YOU!!!!!!
Blessings
Kimberly Dawn
