Painting to Help Others

 Everyday I count my blessings and see how truly rich I am. We are bombarded now with photos of the horribly malnourished and suffering people of Somalia. I can't help but think that this could be any one of us. We have no control over the conditions that we are born into. It just breaks my heart to see how horribly these people are suffering!

I have finally finished my Butterfly Faerie and have placed it for sale in my etsy shop. 20% of the proceeds from this sale will go directly to UNICEF. They have launched a massive scale up of their operation and are using all avenues available to get supplies into Somalia. I want to help them with their efforts in any way that I can. I am honored to have the gifts that God has given me and hope to be able to use them to help others less fortunate.
I am also donating another 10% of the proceeds from this sale to Compassion International. I have been a member of Compassion for almost 6 years and find them to be an honorable organization who helps families in poverty stricken societies.

I plan to have prints available soon and will donate a portion of the proceeds from those as well.

Thank you so much for supporting my art! 

My finished piece for Frank.

This whole project has inspired me to begin an etsy store called Flowers4Frank. A percentage of the sales will go towards either Hugs and Kisses or the Chronic Disease Fund. Originally I wanted to use my art to help people with cancer pay for their treatment. Hugs and Kisses does just that. However, the Chronic Disease Fund is also good because it helps people with any chronic or life-altering disease. I'm still trying to determine which organization is better for what I am trying to do. I'm open to anyone's input or advice. My goal is to get other artists involved and dedicate a section in the store to each artist. In this way each artist would only need to produce 8-10 pieces max. Less burden on each artist and more items available to purchase which means more money for this cause. Still trying to work out the kinks and get others involved so that it really gets started with a bang.