Children’s Art Project at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center

For 27 years, the Children’s Art Project at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center has made life better for children with cancer. Each year, the project offers holiday, everyday, and Valentine collections of note cards and gift items. The line also includes gift bags, silk scarves, ties, sterling silver jewelry, and other items featuring the young patients’ imaginative artwork.

Proceeds from 1999 card and gift sales have funded a record $1.5 million in programs benefiting M. D. Anderson patients, including pediatric cancer research initiatives to improve the long-range outlooks for children with cancer. The project expects to top these figures for the 2000 season.

Thousands of community volunteers contribute their time and talents to the project year round. To produce the large amount of art involved, a record 48 designers participated in putting together this year’s holiday collection. Last year, over 12,000 volunteers donated more than 425,000 hours (the equivalent of 205 full-time employees) to the project.

Brighter Futures

“At the Children’s Art Project, we are proud to focus on making lives better for children with cancer,” said Shannan Murray, director of the project. “Their futures are important to us, and our goal is to enable these young patients to grow up as normally as possible, in spite of the fact that they face a monumental battle with cancer. We like to think that it’s partly because of the Children’s Art Project that M. D. Anderson’s pediatric patients have brighter futures.”

Products are available at retail outlets throughout the country, online, and through direct mail. For a free catalogue or to place an order, call 1-800-231-1580 or visit www.childrensart.org on the Web.