top picture: me with the tin of hope hearts. bottom picture: holiday hope heart ornaments with fun beads and ribbons. picture credits: Mike Mitchell

Hello everyone! Here are a couple pictures I found on the desktop from winter time! The ornaments that are hanging from the bicycle wheel all sold for $5 each at holiday time 2009. We added pretty wire, ribbons and a cool assortment of glass beads. The hearts were much bigger and were painted silver and gold. My students and I liked the "metaphor" of $5 as the average weekly pay in Haiti and other areas of they world where our brothers and sisters on this planet live on or under the Universal Poverty Line for the cost of these hearts . I am happy to report that ALL the big ornaments sold, and quickly too! So far, at last count, these little hearts, handmade by kids in Maryland to benefit kids in Jacmel, Haiti, have raised over $1,000.00!!

I just received a NEW email from Judy Hoffman, founder of Art Creation Foundation for Children. She just returned from Jacmel where she got to spend time with her beloved students and bring all the love and supplies she could. She said the children are still living in tents, suffering from the sadness and destruction of the quakes and bathing from bowls of water with no privacy. However, on the day she called Ted at the Visionary, she said that, "their clothes are clean, they are coming to school and we were all very happy to see each other." To that, she added a message to me in an email that greatly encouraged my students:

You have no idea how much this (the support) means to our children in Haiti at ACFFC ... somehow, post earthquake, 16 kids showed up and so now we are at 76 ... they have seen the hearts on line and are so pleased. www.artforhaitianchildren.org