Mission
The mission for this online gallery and my artwork is to bring awareness to causes closest to my heart, with sale proceeds going to support my favorite nonprofits and charities. They include Challenged Athletes Foundation, Foster the Bay, Shriner's Hospital for Children, and Wheels for the World. Below is more information on these organizations and my personal connection to them.
Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF) – CAF provides opportunities and support to people with physical challenges, so they can pursue active lifestyles through physical fitness and competitive athletics. The Challenged Athletes Foundation believes that involvement in sports at any level increases self-esteem, encourages independence and enhances quality of life. I love sports but my physical limitations made it nearly impossible to participate in competitive athletics. In 2016, I discovered the wonderful world of adaptive crossfit athletics and it has changed my life. The amazing work that CAF is doing transcends beyond the physical but more importantly provides those those living with physical challenges a means to be athletes. I received several grants from them allowing me to train and compete in adaptive crossfit.
CAF sponsored my trip to compete at the 2017 Working Wounded Games in Washington D.C. alongside adaptive athletes all around the world completing crossfit Workout of the Day (WOD) movements. Here I am finishing my first WOD with major encouragement from one of the judges and volunteers!
Foster The Bay - The mission of Foster the Bay is to “provide a loving home for every child in foster care and their vision is a church for every child. Due to a shortage of foster homes in the Bay Area, children in the foster care system are critically vulnerable to society's most pressing issues. If even a fraction of churches in the Bay Area raises up one Foster Family with a team of Support Friends, there will be more than enough families to meet the need. They dream of the day when the church will be known as the community where abused and neglected children are cared for as beloved sons and daughters.” My goal is to become a Support Friend to support families who are caring for a child in foster care in this coming year. I don’t have a family of my own, but LOVE children. Knowing that there are so many in need living around me in the Bay Area, I cannot help but want to support the amazing work that Foster The Bay is doing.
Shriner's Hospital for Children – “Care beyond cost”. They are committed to providing the best care for children in the specialty areas of Orthopaedics, Burn Care, Spinal Cord Injury, and Cleft Lip and Palate, regardless of a family’s ability to pay. They have 21 area hospitals in the US and have in-house research teams that include internationally renowned experts whose discoveries have changed treatment methodologies and improved the lives of countless children suffering from debilitating conditions. As a polio survivor, I was a Shriner’s patient and received amazing care and orthotic equipment at no cost to our family.
Pictured here with my sister, I am wearing the first leg brace provided by Shriner's Hospital in Greenville, SC.
Wheels for the World – Under the umbrella of Joni and Friends Ministry, Wheels collects used wheelchairs in the US, partners with prisons to refurbish the chairs like new and ships the chairs with therapeutic teams. The team includes physical & occupational therapists, wheelchair mechanics, & support folks who fit the wheelchairs and provide a Bible to recipients with disabilities in third world countries. I've been blessed to serve on several outreaches to South East Asia since 2003 and recently to Ghana, Africa delivering the message of hope of The Gospel. Next outreach is scheduled for 2019 or 2020!
Wheels for the World Thailand Outreach 2015 - this little guy was the last recipient that we fitted for a wheelchair.
Contact me if you would like more information on how to partner, commission artwork, or purchase a reprint of selected pieces. For the latter, please click Prints for Purchase here or under the "About" drop down menu at the top right hand corner.
Special thanks to friends and partners:
Josephine Tchang - An amazing friend, fellow artist and supportive partner who is responsible for the original design and layout of this website. She lovingly and patiently walked me through this process of making this online gallery from a dream into reality. She's a cutting edge fashion designer and creator of Purplemaroon.com. Thank you so much Jo! Love you for being the one to kick me in the butt to get online! xoxo
LightsourceSF - All prints available for purchased are professionally captured by LightSource SF. They are an amazing group of people that I have had the privilege of working with. It has been a great learning experience as they provide excellent support & customer service, invaluable expertise and immaculate reprints of original artworks that are second to none! HUGE thanks to Jeff, Sarah, Sam, Aron, and Wade for walking this rookie artist through this whole new world! I look forward to having all my artwork captured and reprints done by you guys! Thank you!