Kids & Art Foundation would like to Thank its Artists, Volunteers, Donors, Collaborators and Families for a successful 2013-14 Art Season.

First off, I would like to thank Anuradha Shenoy for generously donating her time as Kids & Art’s Interim Executive Director from October 2013 to June 2014. During the short time with us she helped us evaluate our goals and plan for them. I personally enjoyed working with her by exchanging ideas and having healthy discussions.

Also we had over 180 participants at our End of Season art workshop at Google in March 2014. We added some new artists in our group and we would like to thank them for volunteering. The following Artists created with our kids and families, Amy King, Dana Tagliafico, Tiffany Birch, Rinat Goren, Jil Coolidge, Tanya Momi, Mary Claire Draeger, Oryan Levi, Ginger Slonaker, Belinda Chlouber, Shiraaz Bhabha, Lynda Pervar, Faye Sahai, Cristina Mancin, Cecil Picard, Yukari Lake, Patty Owyang, Diana Krupka, Sonoko Konishi, Marilyn Zoller Koral, Carol Miller, Stephanie Wong, Laxmi Natarajan, Helen Cole Lew, Roque Ballesteros, Brad Rau, Rajee Shah, Neta Levi, Kris Toscanini, Laura Shen, Silvi Alcivar, Lianne Thompson, Michael and Natasha from Ghostbot.

An organization is as rich and vibrant as its volunteers, Kids & Art is very lucky to have dedicated volunteers helping us with workshops, day-to-day planning, and big picture strategy. We would like to thank Joe Moussa, Sarah Murphy, Teri Behm, Teressa Wen, Apurva Shah, PurviE, Meena Srinivasan, Natalie Wotman, Kevin Avalos, Vaishali Shah, Jayesh Shah, Andrea Schick, David Schick, Tim Koehler, Becky Peters, Philina Mui, Stephanie Wong, Jade Kwan, Anuradha Shenoy, Sibel Mecit, Tom Pushpathadam, Rakhi Narayan Bell, Lindsey Kennedy, Karina Pesta, Padmaja Nuvuluru, Kristen McNutt, Kate Clawson, Saroj Sancheti, Kanaka Pattabiraman, Camilla Zorzi, Mary Lou Saniago, Zoya Voskoboynikov, Avni Bid, Mark Imbertson, Virginia Sanchez, Mirna, Vidya Pradhan, Jeannette Simmons, Silvia Terry, Kay Tsuyama, Leslie Griffith, Lisa Stone.

We would like to also thank our Kids & Art teen volunteers, Arjun, Arya, Ezra, GabrielM, Evvette, Nina, Pooja, Paris, Luke, Lori, Kenzo Yanni, Keanu Franchi, Medha, Anshul, Claire, Sarah, Molly, Alyssa, Stephen, Jeremiah, Nicholas, Rajee, Lauren, Raffi, Gabriel D, Alana, John, David, Ayah, Pooja, Aidan, Aishwarya, Amanda, Natasha, Manasa.

Here are a few articles written about our workshops —

http://www.blogher.com/art-therapy-helping-kids-cancer-let-it-go-and-create

http://waternoice.com/2014/05/16/kids-and-art-foundation-going-strong/

http://herbandlace.com/kidsartorg/

We would also like to thank our donors without whom we cannot provide the free services we do. C. J. Berry Foundation, Kristin Dornig, Elisa Camahort Paige, Peggy Fitzpatrick, Samir Modi, Ankita Desai, Karuna Mukherjea, Kiran Chadha, Janet Case, Alex Puviland, Lior Weiss, Davina Moussa, Mona Shah, Dr Tanya Manyak, Dr Laurentis, Dr Wilson, Abbadent Family & Cosmetic Dentistry, Sandee Mukherjee, Nella Berry, Koryne Smith, Subha Aahlad, Mary Claire Draegers, Sheetal Patel, Apurva Shah, Swati Mody, Jory Des Jardins, Lisa Stone.

We would like to thank our 2013-14 Collaborators– Lauren Wilkerson, Michelle Flately- Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Sampat Kiran- iClick For A Cause, Avni Bid- Avni Bid Photography, CITI Gallerie- Andra Norris, Vineet Gupta, Archi Sarkar Goel- Google, Adrienne Ranft- Pixar, SM4NP- Ritu Sharma, Genentech, Sandee Mukherjee- Taggit, Jacklyn Kurth Orthodontics, Lisa Stone, Elisa Camahort Paige, Jory Des Jardins, Lori Luna- BlogHer, Caroline Low, Go Wonder, Mike Boschetto-Trinity Building Services, Chris Jensen- Jensen & Novacic Accountants, Ana Lang- Perkins Coie, Pragati Grover- India Community Center, Jan Newcomb- The Coach Initiative.

Last but not the least, here are the families that created with us, Koehler family, Natarajan family, Shah family, Dworking family, McNutt family, Diamond family, Singh family, Johnson family, Cox family, Carrington family, Thomas family, Bhora family, Goodwin family, Quazi family, Viswantha family, Anderson family, Chung family, Poux family, Cirujano family, Gonzalez family, Littlefield family, Panos family, Pesta family, Chu family, Permut family, Seth family, Tseng family, Mingus family, Ma family, Luk family, Chang family, Patel family, Tsoi family, Camacho family, Ip family, Simmons family, Sarin family, Watson family, Howe family, Bosley family, Garcia family, Voon family, NinoDeGuzman family.

On September 25, 2014, it will be three years since my nine year old son Amaey passed away. He was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in November 2005 when he was three and in a Montessori Preschool. We would have taken his treatment for many more years if it meant that we would still have him with us. But the amount of chemo his little body was given makes me wonder about his quality of life if he had survived.

This is the debate my husband and I have everyday to make sense of our loss. Unfortunately, these are the kinds of conversations many parents have to have. They have to approve harsh treatment plans for their children and watch them go through endless rounds of pokes, transfusions, radiation, chemo, and side effects.

Kids & Art is what made most sense to me in helping me keep going. I sincerely thank everyone who has supported us in the 2013-14 art season. We are gearing up to start our 2014-15 art season on October 12th and I hope that you will become involved by volunteering, donating, and collaborating with us with our meaningful organization.

Sincerely,

Purvi Shah