Children’s Artwork to be Displayed on First Friday at Connell Building

Lake Ariel, PA – The Marley’s Mission Board of Directors is pleased to announce that children’s artwork from the Second Annual Blue Ribbon Gala will be on display at this week’s First Friday Downtown Scranton Artwalk on Friday, March 2, 2012, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at The Connell Building.

The artwork was created for the Gala by local children depicting the theme “Hands and Hooves,” which was the theme of the Marley’s Mission week-long 2011 summer camp.

Blue Ribbon Gala Art Committee Co-Chairs Gretchen Wintermantel and Jennifer Macknosky reached out to area school districts and asked that students participate. Children were given the theme and asked to depict their vision of “Hands and Hooves.”
“We specifically asked that art projects should reflect the fact that it is the healing power of horses that helps the children to trust and to hope,” said Ms. Wintermantel.

Marley’s Mission received nearly 40 works of art from nine area schools, including: Riverside Junior/Senior High School, McNichols Plaza Elementary School, Carbondale Area High School, Blue Ridge Elementary School, Lackawanna County Career Technology Center, Stourbridge Elementary School, Francis Willard Elementary School, Dunmore High School, and MidValley High School.

This was the second year that Marley’s Mission Gala planners wanted to have area children create works of art for the event, which is the major fundraiser for organization.

“Having artwork created by local children was very important to us because it is young people who are helped through Marley’s Mission. We felt it was important to include them in many aspects of the Gala, and plan to continue to do so next year,” said Mrs. Macknosky.

Note cards that were created from the Marley’s Mission 2011-2012 Art Contest winning drawings will be available for sale at the First Friday event. The pack of 10 all-occasion blank note cards includes the People’s Choice Award Winner, and has two each of the five winners included. The packs are $20 each, and all proceeds benefit Marley’s Mission. The note cards are also available for order by contacting gretchen@marleysmission.com.

The Second Annual Blue Ribbon Gala was held Feb. 18, 2012 at The Hilton Hotel and Conference Center. Co-chairs of the 2012 Gala were Rebecca Haggerty and Jeanne Giallorenzi. Honorary co-chairs were Patrick J. Brier and Erin Kane.
The theme of this year’s Gala was “Celebrate Classy” – celebrating the fact that Marley’s Mission was named “Best New Charity” in September by StayClassy.org, a leader in fundraising for non-profits.
The First Friday event at The Connell Building, 131 North Washington Ave. in Scranton, is free and open to the public.

Marley’s Mission, founded in July 2010 and currently based in Lake Ariel, provides Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP) to children and families who have experienced trauma, at no cost.