Houses For Haiti Night

Thanks to The Art Mill and all the wonderful people who came to make Houses For Haiti~ we had such a fun night creating things to help the children at the Rescue Center in Cazale.

We displayed photos and information about Haiti...

...and displayed Haitian artwork purchased in Port Au Prince while we were in Haiti early December.

The clay ~ ready to be transformed.

Learning how to create our houses.

One of my favorite things about the night was watching a group of people, with the exact same materials, create COMPLETELY different and amazing works of art.
Some people had a plan and a vision and went straight to work. Others, myself included, let the clay become whatever it was meant to be....and each house turned out so unique and wonderful.

Here are some of the houses, ready to dry for the next 7 days.

Even in this form they are too cute, and I can't wait to go back to paint them next weekend and see them after they've been fired in the kiln.

I decided to make mine based off of some of my favorite things about the houses I saw in Cazale. I loved the woodwork and the iron patterns in a lot of the houses we saw. Mine also has a thatched roof and I loved all the chickens running around ~ so decided to make a little rooster at the last minute.

Thank you to all who made this a possibility. We will let you know when they are available for purchase to help the Rescue Center!

2 New Children

These two children arrived at the Rescue Center this week. They aren't there because of the earthquake. They are there because of the tragedy that is poverty.

This is Darlens. They don't know exactly how old he is, but he weighs 11 pounds. 11 pounds! Wow.
Can you even believe how tiny this little guys arms and legs are?

Gedeon is suffering from Kwashiorkor, which is a severe protein deficiency. That is why he is so swollen~ and you can see from his face how awful he feels. We saw a lot of this while we were in Haiti and it's very dangerous and painful for the child. Many many children die from Kwashiorkor in Haiti.
It is truly a tragedy.

Poverty will continue to affect Haiti and we thank you all for your continued support to help these children. Thank you.

Items Needed In Haiti

I've had several people contact me wanting to know what else they could do to help in Haiti. Some of you asked if certain items were needed and where they could be sent. Licia, the wonderful lady that runs the Rescue Center, posted a list of items that they really need. You can send any of these items to MN and they will be kept in a warehouse there and then shipped to Haiti.

You can check out the list HERE!

Who Is Artists For Hope?

Over a year ago, I was totally crushed after seeing pictures on Licia's blog of some children that were just skin and bone from severe malnutrition. I've been to Russia, Guatemala, South Africa, and Madagascar. I've seen poverty. I've seen hunger~ but I had never seen children that were literally starving to death. It especially hit me that this was in Haiti, just a few hour plane ride from Miami. How could this be happening?

I talked to a few artist friends and we discussed what we could do to make life a little better for these kids. We knew the people at the Rescue Center did everything they could to help these kids. They loved them and provided them with all they could...but we also knew funds were hard to come by for them and they needed more to be able to help more children.

Pictures of children like little Emmanuel (above) are what motivated us to do something. What if we donated some of our artwork to sell to make some money for these kids? What if we talked to friends to see if they wanted to do the same? What if we talked to artists who also wanted to DO something? What if we could advertise for these artists so other people could learn more about them and their talent?

These after pictures are why we are doing what we are doing. Isn't the difference amazing?

The week after Thanksgiving I was able to lead a small group to visit the Rescue Center for the first time. The thing that hit me the most while we were there was the huge feeling of HOPE that was within the Rescue Center. Some of the kids were so sick, but the nannies and staff treated them like they were going to be OK and with all the respect they deserved. There was always singing. There was always playing. There was always hope.

I took this picture of Emmanuel while we were there. I hadn't seen his before picture and I could not believe that was him. This smiley, goofy little boy couldn't be that sad, solemn little guy in the first picture! He was TOO cute and we're so happy knowing he is home with his family now.

Knowing that the kids we loved and spent the week with have been sleeping outside and that their food and formula supplies were running out has been extremely hard. A lot of the kids are medically fragile and some are on IV's and have feeding tubes. How difficult it must be to be outside 24/7 with 50 babies and kids. Can you imagine your own kids being outside on the cement day after day? ugh.

We again want to thank all of you that have come forward to donate and for all the people who have been purchasing artwork! It makes such a difference and it will truly help these kids. If you are interested in donating or even if you just have questions, please email Roberta @ artistsforhope@gmail.com.

We've also added some new items to our etsy page and will continue to, so please check HERE often!

Houses For Haiti

Artists For Hope is teaming up with The Art Mill in Omaha for a wonderful FREE event to help the Rescue Center in Haiti.

Friday, January 29, artists are invited to The Art Mill to make these beautiful house shaped vases that will be sold on our blog and website. We're so excited to have different artists come together to create something that will make a difference in the lives of the kids in Cazale.

So...if you live in or near Omaha and you would like to be a part of this fun event~ here's the details.

January 29, 2010 |
6 - 9 p.m.
A Free Event
15512 Spaulding Plaza Suite D09
Located at the NE corner of 156th and Maple next to Hollywood Diner.
Call 402-932-7846 to register to attend.
email: jane@omahaartmill.com

Hope to see you there!

More New Items and THANK YOU

We have been adding new things every day to our etsy site and they have been selling almost as fast as we can list them. We are thrilled about this problem. We added some new things, so go check them out. We have been contacted by some wonderful new artists and we will be sharing about them on our new website in the near future.

We also want to say a big THANK YOU to all of you who have purchased things and donated to the Rescue Center. It has been amazing to see so many people who care about these kids!

Please continue to spread the word!
We would LOVE if you would add our button to your blog or website.
Thank you.

Rescue Center Kids

These are a few of the older kids we were having fun with just weeks ago at the Rescue Center. It's hard to believe how much has changed in the last couple days.

We are frantically trying to finish our website so we can list Artists directly from there and share all the information about our generous donors so art lovers around the world can learn more about their talents. We started Artists For Hope because of the extreme poverty we saw in Haiti and a heart to make a difference for these kids. We had no idea that within a year we would be sending money because of such a terrible tragedy.

Thank you for your generosity.
You are helping more than you can know.

Who we are helping

A few short weeks ago we were doing art projects with the children living at the Rescue Center in the exact spot where this make-shift medical clinic has now been set up.

Thank you to all the generous artists who have already contacted us. We will get things listed as soon as we can and please know that we will be sending the money immediately to Haiti when items are purchased so they can have it available to them. Thank you.

New Listings

We were able to get a few new things listed before etsy started having issues. We will have more coming very soon. Thank you to those of you who have emailed and purchased things already. You really are helping! The kids at the Rescue Center need basic things right now, like food to eat~ so we will be sending all money that comes in directly to the Rescue Center to help with the things they so desperately need right now.

Please spread the word. More donations would be wonderful. Create something, help Haiti, and share your talents with the world!

Please Check Back Often

We will be listing new things as they come in. It takes awhile to get them listed, so please check back often. All the proceeds will be sent quickly to the Rescue Center to help them with the daily struggles they are having right now as a result of the earthquake.

If you would like to donate, please email me at artistsforhope@gmail.com

Thank you.

The Kids

The kids at the Rescue Center are sleeping outside again tonight. It's safer than being inside with the aftershocks and the walls of their buildings cracking from the earthquake. There are so many injuries in their area and homes and buildings destroyed.

Thank you to those of you have contacted me already about donations. We will be listing things on our Etsy site as they come in. Everything helps. They really need it right now.

Donations Now Being Accepted

We are a new organization located in Omaha, NE. We recently returned from Haiti and the earthquake has obviously affected us very deeply. We feel for the children and people we worked with there and we are having a hard time thinking about how they are going to handle this devastation. The children and families we worked with are struggling to get by on a day to day basis. This is going to be beyond hard for them.

We are asking for donations of any medium to help with the relief efforts in Haiti. ALL proceeds will go to help the children at the Rescue Center to make sure that they have the food and medications that they need to survive and anything beyond that will go to relief efforts in Port Au Prince. I know the news is talking mainly about Port Au Prince, but areas like Cazale were greatly affected also. They have enough food to last for a few days at the Rescue Center but they are worried what they will do beyond that. Please email me at artistsforhope@gmail.com with any donations or ideas of how you would like to help. Thank you.

Haiti Earthquake

I'm sure most of you know, but I wanted to ask everyone to keep Haiti in your thoughts and prayers after the devastating earthquake that has occurred. The children that we help at the Rescue Center are all OK right now. They evacuated the Rescue Center and the children and the nannies that came in are sleeping outside under a shelter.

I will let everyone know if I hear anything of how we can help. Thank you.

New Jewelry Listed

Artist Joey Breed has once again generously donated some beautiful jewelry to us and we are so happy about that! All proceeds from these amazing sets will go help the kids at the Real Hope For Haiti Rescue Center. The only money we ever take out is what it costs for shipping. The rest goes to Haiti. Generous donations like these from Joey make a BIG difference in the lives of the kids at the RC. As always, I'm sure they will sell quickly~ so go check out Etsy right now.

You can also see more of Joey's work at her
Etsy site- Painted Pineapple.

One Of My Favorites

This is one of my favorite kids AND my favorite photos from my trip to Haiti. This is Alma and can you believe he is 6 years old? I'm sure his growth is far behind because of how many times he has had kwashiorkor, but he is seriously one of the sweetest and cutest kids I have ever met. Even when he was in pain because of his swollen legs he was trying to smile and he LOVED to be held. It was such an amazing experience to bring these moments of joy to these kids and to be able to see the children that we have been helping through Artists For Hope. They brought us even more joy than we could bring them.

Do you want to be a part of that joy?
They need you. We need you!
Be creative and change the world.