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Donate
Our Sincere Thanks!As we pause on the threshold of this New Year (which brings our 10th anniversary in September), we look back with deep gratitude for all who have come alongside to participate in this mission. A non-profit like Bread of Life exists only because many generous folks like you say: “Yes! We so value this resource in our community that we open hearts, hands, and pocketbooks to put bones and flesh on what the Spirit is already doing.” We have received incredible gifts from amazing people in 2006. We would not be here today without your generosity. THANK YOU! At this time we particularly lift up the philanthropic heart of California Statewide Certified Development Corporation founder and Executive Director Barbara Vohryzek, who dares to model a way business can support the common good through non-profit charities. And, she lives her giving personally. A Tribute to the Philanthropy of California Statewide CDC In the past 10 years California Statewide has grown its giving to small organizations serving unmet needs in local communities to the current level of 85% of its annual net excess. Their recognition of the helping hand needed to get a small organization off the ground and their support of innovative ideas not yet embraced in the broader society have literally made all the difference to us. We would not be here today without their willingness to ‘put legs on’ this mission through concrete support. Specifically, since 1999 California Statewide has given Bread of Life $194,000:
In an effort to pass on the spirit of philanthropy California Statewide is moving its practice from a purely centralized allocation of grants to a model which includes asking each participating lender to indicate a charity of choice as a way of encouraging and promoting philanthropy as a life orientation. We offer this tribute with abiding gratitude and trust that the philanthropic spirit seeded by Barbara Vohryzek willgerminate in other hearts for the good of all. Donating is easy! If you wish to donate online, AuctionPay is available, click here. If you prefer, you can send pledges and donations to: Bread of Life (the parent organization of Spirit in the Arts)
Please join board member and artist Mary Dignan in offering your support! Spirit in the Arts changes lives. Here's one woman's story... May 17, 2005 Hi, Mary Dignan here. Those of you who know me already know I’m deaf and have worn a hearing aid almost all my life. You know I’m going blind, and you know that brain tumor surgery eight years ago has made me deafer, blinder and unable to produce lubricating tears for my eyes anymore. The brain tumor has also made me a weally, er, really wobbly woman. Most of you also already know that I’ve moved from life as an attorney at law to being an artist at large and have set up my mosaic art studio at Spirit in the Arts. What most of you might not know is why Spirit in the Arts is more than just a convenient working space for me. That’s what this letter is about.
An avalanche of emotional, spiritual and physical issues from the brain tumor overwhelmed me when I decided I wanted to heal “on every level”. Through spiritual direction with Bread of Life, the sponsoring organization for Spirit in the Arts, I found the graceful guidance I needed to wade my way through my morass of issues. As trust in my deepest spiritual instincts grew, so too did trust in my creative instincts, and vice versa. The mosaics I made for “something to do” were helping me reach the healing on every level that my soul craved. By the time the idea for Spirit in the Arts came along, the mosaics were helping me dump the SuperWoman image that is such heavy baggage when you’re wobbling around deafblind. They were teaching me to live in the present moment and access my inner, spiritual perceptive senses. They were even teaching my husband and me the art of truly respectful interdependent interaction. So I already knew that Spirit in the Arts was an idea that could work: that providing a safe haven and resources for creative expression could truly enrich and empower a community. Spirit in the Arts has been open for about a year now, and we’re already seeing impressive results. We seepersons like Dennis and Tom surprise themselves as they focus on a complex art project and carry it through to completion. They’re producing art that is truly awe-some, and along the way, they’re also moving from drug and alcohol recovery into their own independent living quarters - and into lives of sobriety and gainful employment. A homeless family with two kids left a recentSecond Saturday tie-dye workshop with brand-new t-shirts the kids dyed themselves, and smiles broader than any I’ve seen in Disneyland. Neighborhood parents are dropping by and asking, “You mean, my kids can come here after school?” All this doesn’t really surprise me. But I am awesomely surprised -- and graced -- by the impact Spirit in the Arts is making on me. I willingly moved my mosaic studio there figuring that I am going so blind so fast I might as well let someone else use my stuff. Instead, Ifound that teaching and making art in a supportive environment with the visual and able-bodied assistance I need has empowered ME. I’m spending four to six days a week over there now, and have never been more productive or happier with the quality of my work. The magic of healthy interdependent interaction and constructive creativity strikes again! It’s amazing how helping others spark up their creative and spiritual candles lights up your own life as well. And that’s what Spirit in the Arts is about. We’re not about producing great artists or great art, although it is true that some great stuff is coming out of our art room. We're about making room for creative and spiritual growth. We're about making good space for waking up those candles of creativity – and Creation – that each of us carries deep within us. We’re about making our corner a safe haven of creativity that will enrich and empower the whole community. I’d like to encourage you to share your candles and support for this effort. Spirit in the Arts is a small grassroots operation, and we’re doing great stuff on a minimal budget, but we do need help. Here’s the scoop. We have one paid staff member who works more than fulltime for $20,000 plus benefits. We have donated space from the North Sacramento United Methodist Church, and all the furniture, computers, and most of our supplies and materials so far have also been donated. We figure we need about $50,000 within the next few months. We need this much so we can hire more staff, pay utilities, replenish our supplies and materials, and upgrade the electrical system so we can install some room air conditioners so that our work rooms will be useable throughout Sacramento’s summer heat. And we need you. We need people who are interesting in sharing their time and talents here, and as always, donations of supplies and materials and elbow grease. I hope you'll stop by so we can show you around, tell you more about what we're doing and how we're operating, introduce you to our volunteers and artists, and even do a little bit of art yourself (trust me, you'll enjoy it!). We welcome you, your friends, and your whole family (including the kids). Just give us a call at the Spirit in the Arts Center office 916-648-1803 and let us know you're coming. I hope you'll share your candles with us so that we can brighten our community. Warmest regards and deepest gratitude, MaryD
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