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As shopping madness begins to consume us (if we are in a position to go mad and shop), please remember the small agencies like ours that have made every effort to continue serving the needs of the community throughout the pandemic. Now that we are heading into a third year of completely revised programming with all its new challenges and increased workloads for our small staff, your donation can make a HUGE difference in how much work we can accomplish to serve the mental, emotional and spiritual health of the young people in our community who are struggling right now. We all have something to give—whether it’s financial support, in-kind donations of goods or services, gift cards or volunteer time—and every act of human consideration and kindness matters.

Through poetry and art, AfA’s programs has created opportunities for expression, connection and transformation for 15,000 young people over the years. That’s why our team works so hard and cares so much, despite the challenges we’ve all faced recently in so many areas of our lives. Marginalized and isolated young people are going through the global crisis, societal unrest, political upheavals and personal challenges on a scale most of us can’t begin to imagine. We can call it mental health support, emotional support, violence and suicide prevention, resiliency, and a host of other words that all may be true, but AfA’s preferred term for the poetry and art they share with us is “soul speak.” We facilitate the recognition that no matter what happens—no matter what hurts—we are together, our lives matter, our voices matter, and we are valuable creative geniuses who can create stories not only of pain, but of power and of possibility. Would that have made a difference in your life if you had been given that message and that support at a young age? Will you consider providing that option for the young people in our community with your donation?

Art from Ashes was founded 18 years ago on the belief that young people are calling out for connection to each other and to their communities, and that we choose to be the ones who will listen—we facilitate a censorship-free zone for them to experience their creative power in the face of helplessness—helping them believe that their Phoenix will rise. Our award-winning Phoenix Rising curriculum is founded on the power of language and metaphor through spoken word and poetry to effect change in a young person’s life. COVID caused us to lose our momentum a bit as we had to make a sudden shift to move our in-person small group work to a virtual platform, and consequently over the past year we have experienced a significant decrease in earned revenue. We’re incredibly grateful for the essential relief grants we’ve gotten that have helped us continue our work, and at the same time we’ve experienced a $65,000 shortfall as the community shut down.

That is of course a significant amount to our small nonprofit, but when the youth responded to our online workshops with gratitude, we knew we had to do whatever it takes to continue to give them what they needed. If we can’t actually be present for each other, which is fundamental to our program’s process, even virtual presence becomes vital. And it still works. AfA’s Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) fellow through World Denver and Lead at Youth Reach Singapore, Ziying Teng wrote this about her recent online experience at a virtual youth workshop:

I attended the Art from Ashes Honduras workshop on 6th November 2021. It was 12.30am on a Saturday night in Singapore, and the best way I could have spent my evening. It took me a while to process the session, because I was so blown away by the experience. To facilitate a poetry writing session is already difficult enough, but to do so over Zoom is a whole new world. Yet, Catherine and her co-facilitator, Kate, were brilliant at building a safe, magical virtual space for the young people to tiptoe at their own pace into the realm of art-making. The prompts were simple, but the world-building was complex; and it worked beautifully. I was completely moved by the pieces shared so generously by the participants. It reflected so much love, thoughtfulness and kindness present in their inner worlds, and the workshop served as a bridge to gently pull out some of these thoughts and feelings. Despite the short session, I felt like the incredible beauty of it was the feeling of connectedness it created—between facilitators, participants and me. That is something so important and precious, especially in the world we live in right now. Thank you Art from Ashes for the incredible, touching experience.

With your support we can continue making a difference by providing a safe and brave space for young people to express themselves and be heard, and through the power of their words find hope and meaning.

Art from Ashes exists to empower struggling youth by providing creative programs that facilitate health and hope through expression, connection and transformation.