Denver-based artist, Laurie Maves, produced a series - Poppies for Ethiopia - which she is selling to raise money to travel to Ethiopia with us on the 2008 trip. The following is an excerpt from her website:

The following Poppy Paintings are available for purchase for a minimum donation of $500. All proceeds will benefit the Cunningham Foundation which assists Project Mercy in Yetebon, Ethipoia, by providing breakfast, lunch, education, uniforms and shoes to 1,500 children. Armed with school and art supplies, I will be traveling to Yetebon with the foundation in November 2008 and will be working with the local school children and teachers to help develop arts and creative learning programs.  Paintings are now showing at Strings Restaurant located at 1700 Humbolt Street in Denver www.stringsrestaurant.com. 

To purchase a Poppy Painting now, please use the following donation link:

From my Studio....

Poppies #1 2008, acrylic latex and paint pen of canvas 36"x36", all rights reserved by Laurie Maves

 Poppies #2 2008, acrylic latex and paint pen of canvas 36"x36", all rights reserved by Laurie Maves

Poppies #3 2008, acrylic latex and paint pen of canvas 36"x36", all rights reserved by Laurie Maves

Poppies #4 2008,  acrylic latex and paint pen of canvas 36"x36", all rights reserved by Laurie Maves

You can donate by clicking the following link:

Kim Miles, world famous bead artist, has decided to create a very inspiring fundraiser to collect funds to travel to Ethiopia on the 2008 Cunningham Foundation trip. Here is an excerpt from her website:

I have some super exciting news!
Rick and I have been invited to go to Ethiopia in November, to teach beadmaking for the
HOPE Bracelet Project! This is so amazing to me, to finally be able to meet the people we've
been working with all this time. This year, for the first time ever, there will be bracelets available made with beads from the Yetebon Studio at Project Mercy.
This is huge, as it means our goal of helping the HOPE Bracelet Project to become
self-sufficient is becoming a reality. More than ever, teachers and mentors are
needed there to encourage the students and help them become awesome, creative beadmakers.
This is where I come in!

As you might imagine, a trip like this is not inexpensive.
We don't want funds for the project used for our travel expenses, and we're not
wealthy volunteers who can actually afford to do this on our own.
We're just simple beadmakers, making our living bead by bead.

So, I'm going to hold a fundraiser here, and ask for your help in making this important trip possible.
I'm going through my personal jewelry collection now, and choosing some wonderful pieces that I think you'll love as much as I do. Once I have it set up with the Cunningham Foundation,
you'll be able to make donations, earmarked for our trip, directly to them.
Then, when we've reached our goal, I'll hold a
Thank-You Drawing for all the donors, and will give away several gorgeous, favorite necklaces.
Sure, it stings a bit to part with my own personal jewelry,
but this means a lot to me, so I'm happy to do it!
Keep checking here to find out when the event actually starts.
For now, here's a little preview of some of the jewelry you could win!

Every once in a while I come across some great resources for the Foundation website; today I found an interview of Noel Cunningham that was done a while ago from Blacktie-Colorado - a website that helps nonprofit orgs in Colorado put on events and raise money.