Community members gathered at 21c Museum Hotel for Rise and Shine, a benefit breakfast for Arts For Life at Duke Children’s Hospital – a nonprofit that supports hospitalized children and their families through visual art, music and creative writing education. Guests mingled, sipped coffee and indulged in a breakfast of eggs, bacon and pancakes while enjoying live music from Arts For Life music teacher William Dawson. Board member Katie Ward opened the program by introducing the Arts For Life mission: “We like to say that until there is a world free from illness and disability, Arts For Life helps kids imagine and create one.” Executive Director Rachel Zink and Program Director Mary Margaret Fulk described the unique impact of Arts For Life on the patients and families it serves by transforming each daunting hospital visit into a “joyful and limitless experience.” Finally, Lauren Deel, the mother of 5-year-old cancer patient Charlotte, spoke about her family’s experience with Arts For Life, describing the impromptu jam sessions and paint parties that make the hospital a friendlier place: “The Arts For Life program became a game-changer, not just for Charlotte, but for my whole family.”
Click here to discover ways you can support Arts For Life.
Rise and Shine
Curtis and Patricia Perry.
Rise and Shine
Katie DeConto and Courtney Prebble.
Rise and Shine
Edith Rosenplatt, Joyce Avery, Mildred Barnes, Ruth Medley and Linda Simpson.
Rise and Shine
Arts for Life Program Director Mary Margaret Fulk with Charlene Mitchell, Miranda Mitchell, Carol Mitchell and Candace Black.
Rise and Shine
Emma Ward, 11, Nikki Ward and Anna Marie Carr.
Rise and Shine
(Top row) Alison Griffin, Lauren Deel, Carol Mitchell, Emma Ward, 11, Mary Margaret Fulk, Suzanne Allen, AFL Executive Director Rachel Zink, AFL Board Member Katie Ward and music teacher William Dawson (bottom left) gather with Lauren’s children (clockwise from bottom left): Charlotte, 5, Henry, 6, Marian, 3, and Elyse, 8.
