Spreading joy with the Memory Project
This holiday season, FVM wanted to take the time to think of those in the world who are less fortunate and make sure to send some love and good cheer their way — this led us to get involved with the Memory Project.
The Memory Project is a charitable nonprofit that invites teachers, students, and solo artists to help cultivate global kindness. Their task is to create portraits for children around the world who have faced substantial challenges, such as violence, war, extreme poverty, neglect, and loss of parents. These portraits not only become gifts to the children — something that many of them go without — but, more importantly, they also bear a reminder to the kids that they are valued and important.
To get us started, we reached out to the nonprofit and were them paired with a group of young children from a town in Bogotá, Colombia. All we had to do next was wait to receive the kids’ photos in the mail, and then we could get started with our paint brushes and colored pencils!
After pulling out the art supplies, it wasn’t too before too long that we discovered where everyone’s true talents lie…yes, we’re all “creative” folks, but man oh man, it became clear that many of us don’t have an artistic bone in our body. Thankfully our talented Art Director, Aaron, came to the rescue with an impromptu Bob Ross-style class that whipped us into shape and helped us do justice to the adorable, smiling kids in the photos. That’s not to say that some portraits didn’t turn out better than others (I’ll let the photo below speak for itself), but with a little help we were all able to find some version of our inner artists, which means you can, too!
As a “thank you” from the Memory Project organization, they sent us a sweet video of the children receiving their portraits just before the holidays. Go ahead and check out those cute smiles on all those adorable faces.
If you or your organization would like to get involved with this great cause, just head on over to https://www.memoryproject.org/. I promise it’s not just for the Picassos out there!