Starting a nonprofit can be hard, but not as hard as a trip from the Middle East or Africa by boat to Greece and the European Union as a foreign refugee.
Durango artist Suzanne Horwich, founder of the nonprofit Artists Giving Back, has a new fundraiser for people looking to help international refugees, including Gazans, Sudanese, Iranians, Eretreans, Kurds, the people of Chad and Sierra Leone, and others.
She is launching a new fundraiser called “Love From Afar” after her latest trip to Greece in July.
“I've had different high schools, different museums, religious organizations, wanting to know how they can be a part of artists giving back so I've created a program that will allow people to do that,” she said.
On her latest trip, she continued her mission to create community and provide support and an outlet through art.
She said she primarily encountered Palestinians fleeing the conflict between Gaza and Israel.
Now, she is launching a fundraiser called “Love From Afar” that is accepting donations.
For $30, she will provide two pieces of outstretched canvases, a paintbrush and paints to donors. In return, the donors are asked to provide the art for the refugees “by delivering their message of love to communities,” she said.
“There are people like me with an idea who want to get off the couch and do it, like me,” she said. “But there are people who don’t (know how to do it).”
But there is only one of her, and refugees know and like to know others are thinking about them and supporting them, she said.
She said by Michael Staenberg, a St Louis businessman with the Staenberg Family Foundation, sponsored her most recent trip with her daughters.
“This is a great way to send love and to actively participate in helping to heal these individuals that are displaced due to conflict, crisis or climate. Art brings smiles,” she said.
Through April, she said she thinks she helped about 600 Middle Eastern and African refugees in Lesbos, Greece.
cburney@durangoherald.com
A previous version of this story misspelled Michael Staenberg’s name, and a quote by Suzanne Horwich was misattributed to Staenberg.
