As we embark on our sixth year of business here at Fancywork we are reflecting on how gratified we feel towards the warmth of our fiber arts community and the generosity you’ve all collectively shown through our year-round Community Giving program and events.
From our Sip & Stitch gathering and knitalongs, to our classes and pop-up shops, we hear from our customers that what they love most about Fancywork Yarn Shop are the opportunities to gather, make, and give back. Our fiber arts community is strong because it is inclusive, diverse, peaceful, loving, secure, safe and generous.
Together we’ve raised over $12,300 for non-profits in our community and around the world including Warm Springs Community Action Team, Saving Grace, OUT Central Oregon, NeighborImpact, refugee relief in Ukraine through USA for UNHCR, and more. As we enter a post-pandemic era where authentic human connection remains elusive at times, we find ourselves particularly tuned to the emotional challenges faced by the younger members of society. With our community’s youth on our minds and in our hearts, we are proud to support Hearts Unknown Education (HÚE) through our Community Giving Program all year-round.
A Note from Executive Director, Nicola Carpinelli
On behalf of HÚE’s students, volunteers, and board, I would like to thank the community and our friends at Fancywork for your support and generosity!
Hearts Unknown Education (HÚE) is a community-based nonprofit that offers no-cost programs in Creative Wellness to foster free expression while encouraging youth to explore their inner selves and emotions through art. Participating in creative expression through art can be a refuge from intense emotions, decrease anxiety and calm neural activity, relieve stress, help one to process life events, and positively impact overall mental health.
We are stretching and growing to meet the high need of our community’s youth and families. Our goal is to be there daily for children, giving them a place to create and connect. Your donations will ensure that our kids have art workshops, mental health support, and a safe place to land.
We believe if you can’t say it, paint it!
What your donation will do:
- Expand class availability and offerings
- Help secure a dedicated art space
- Provide materials for students to express themselves
- Increase access to qualified mental health support
- Allow more Central Oregon children to access this community resource.
Many Blessings,
Nicola Carpinelli
Executive Director, HÚE
Youth At Risk
An alarming report from from the American Academy of Child and Pediatric Psychiatry tells us that suicide is the second leading cause of death for children, adolescents, and young adults 15 to 24 years old. Oregon Health Sciences University researchers found a significant increase in suicidal overdoses beginning around 2012. The most significant increase is seen among children 10- to 12-years old, representing a five-fold increase. While the increase in persistent sadness and feelings of helplessness spans the gender spectrum, the CDC reports the teen girls experience these feelings at twice the rate of teen boys. The mental crisis among children was so dire as to to be declared a national state of emergency by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) and the Children’s Hospital Association (CHA).
Round up or add any additional amount at checkout to support the our community’s youth at risk when you shop at Fancywork Yarn Shop. We’ll deliver 100% of those funds directly to Hearts Unknown Education.
Dead Poets Foundation
For artist and HÚE Executive Director Nicola Carpinelli, the position that children and young adults find themselves in today is all too familiar, having battled mental health issues and thoughts of suicide himself. As part of his journey towards healing, Carpinelli sought care from Dr. Howard Asher, Psy.D., a Los Angeles-based psychologist and leading U.S. trauma specialist. It was during his time as Dr. Asher’s patient that Carpinelli returned to painting following a 10-year hiatus. Carpinelli painted portraits of his heroes – celebrities the world has lost to suicide, among them Chef Anthony Bourdain, Ernest Hemingway, Margaux Hemingway, Kurt Cobain, Kate Spade, Robin Willliams and others. Carpinelli relocated to Bend five years ago. On World Suicide Day in 2019, this series was on display at the Peterson Roth Gallery in downtown Bend. Dr. Asher attended the show’s opening as did actress, author and mental health expert Mariel Hemingway.
Dr. Asher and Carpinelli have forged a partnership that has extended beyond the patient/doctor relationship. Along with Hemingway, they formed the Dead Poets Foundation, whose motto is, “If You Save One Life, You Save the World.”
Hearts Unknown Education
Hearts Unknown Education (HÚE) is the first program of the Dead Poets Foundation. HÚE offers creative wellness and free expression classes for at-risk youth ages 5-18. These classes are focused not just on the fun of creating art, but also on the act of creating as a path to releasing pain and to healing. “Art is connection, it is at the heart of everything in life,” Carpinelli states. “We offer a safe and supportive space for kids struggling with anxiety, depression, really just struggling to cope with life. We teach them creative utility, or my new word ‘creatility,’ helping them find tools so that they might be able to clear space and face what comes next in life.”
From its first class of four students held at Layor Art Supply in April 2022, HÚE has grown to 60 students and counting during the first sessions of 2023. The non-profit currently offers two classes per week at DIY Cave. Sessions run three months long. All classes are free of charge, removing economic barriers that are often a hurdle to enrichment programs for low-income families. Because Carpinelli is a bilingual speaker, HÚE classes are accessible to the Spanish-speaking community as well.
Where You Come In
With the popularity of HÚE classes growing steadily, the most immediate and urgent need for the non-profit is to find additional space with larger capacity. The second need is funding for supplies such as canvases, paints, brushes and other materials that students use to create free expression art. Beyond the needs of physical space for classes and materials to work with, HÚE is seeking funding for operating expenses such as volunteer training programs, staffing, insurance, travel and more.
The team at Fancywork feels a strong connection to the important work that HÚE is doing in our community as so many of us approach our craft in a similar way. The process of making provides a creative balm to help us through times of stress, anxiety, depression or other unwelcome feelings that may be knocking at the door. Yarn and needles, hooks, looms and wheels allow us to focus meditatively on the project at hand and take a mental break from the demands of the day. HÚE offers a similar experience in a safe, inclusive space for young people just learning to find their way.
Join us in supporting the mental health and well-being of children and young adults in our community through our year-round Community Giving Program benefiting Hearts Unknown Education.
To learn more about Hearts Unknown Education (HÚE), visit their website.