2017 October Special Edition Newsletter
In our first October Newsletter, we briefly mentioned #GivingTuesday. Hopefully you found a bit of time to visit the website, www.sitesandinsights.org ! Do you remember the Good Times Hamburger commercial where the guy ends with ‘we’re gonna be big’? Well, #GivingTuesday is going to be bigger than big . . . it is going to be huge, gargantuan, perhaps even epic. How do we know? #GivingTuesday is a global giving movement built and sustained from year to year by individuals, families, organizations, businesses, and communities across the United States as well as many countries around the world. It is a global event. Did you know that November 28th is the official opening day of the giving season? Perhaps something to think about in contrast to (not in conflict with) Black Friday and Cyber Monday! On #GivingTuesday, we all have an opportunity to give back (a.k.a.‘pay-it-forward’).
Sites and Insights, Inc.’s curriculum has proven to be transformational. We use therapeutic art for self-discovery and self-expression, guiding the participants during this emotional roller coaster ride, teaching a tool to help cope with feelings during and after treatment. It’s not unusual to observe a personal awakening, sense of hope, or unfamiliar smile rise to the surface in a student participating in one of our mindful healing art workshops. We often see individuals connect with the innermost feelings of their cancer journey, then experience a new sense of understanding and peace. It seems nothing short of a miracle and, by the way, we do believe in miracles. We need all the help we can get. With that in mind, please understand that ongoing financial contributions from folks like you are essential for us to continue our work. At this point you might ask how we know that we are providing valuable, worthwhile help to cancer patients and caregivers? Please take a minute or two to reflect on the thoughts and feelings shared by a few of our students:
“When I took the Healing Art Workshop I was in the middle of chemotherapy and dealing with the loss of my husband four months prior. After taking the class, I felt I could move forward in my life with more focus, balance, positive energy and actual joy. The facilitators had a way of helping me to look inside of myself to feelings that needed to be recognized and released. This happened through art. It saved me.”
“I learned how to express my feelings with color and art and it was astonishing.”
“The art illuminates the unspoken and the unseen.”
“I now feel more hopeful and more serene and more accepting of my own (sometimes hidden) emotions.”
“I enjoyed the freedom from just dealing with cancer and being able to express myself through color.”
“The workshop changed my life.”
Valuable? Yes. Worthwhile? Most definitely!
Now you have the opportunity to help cancer patients/survivors and caregivers with their emotional journey during and after their treatment.
From Vicki Mackie, Executive Director
Recently someone asked me why I am so involved with the cancer community. It suddenly occurred to me that I forget or fail to tell the story behind Sites and Insights, Inc.®. Not because I don’t want to tell the story, I just simply forget. Since I am limited on room and you are limited on time to read a laborious story, I will give you the Reader’s Digest version.
I was semi-retired and focusing on my photography and art business when I was diagnosed with stage three metastatic breast cancer in 2005. I received the diagnosis one and half months after I lost my retirement, savings and a home in Gulf Port, Mississippi due to Hurricane Katrina. Yes, at one point I was given the news that my cancer had metastasized in both lungs and was asked on the spot if I would donate my body to research. Needless to say, I am sitting here today writing this and feeling very grateful. One of the things that got me through hurricanes, cancer and an economy that went bust during that same time, was my art and photography. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that it cured me, I am saying that it helped with my attitude, recovery and survival. Later, I found myself working in a cancer clinic and realized the lack of art. Knowing the research that had been done on Healing Art and patients; I and my business partner, Deb Peek went back to school and studied Healing Arts. When we came back we started workshops and realized very quickly the impact it had on people’s lives with a continual three month waiting list. We both took the Leap of Faith and resigned from our jobs. We started the only healing art nonprofit for cancer patients/survivors and caregivers in the United States. Deb and I have developed a copywritten curriculum and with the help of our wonderful volunteers and Board of Directors we are expanding and being able to help more people in our cancer community.
If you would like to help us help others or find out more about us, go to www.sitesandinsights.org or email us at info@sitesandinsights.org.
WORKSHOP
Be sure to register for an up coming workshop. This is a 4 week free workshop to be held starting October 25. Each consecutive Wednesday session is 2 hours in length from 4PM to 6PM, at Michaels, 80 S. Abilene St. Aurora City Place, Aurora, CO. Click HERE for map
Mark your calendars for October 25, November 1, November 8 and November 15.
Use the form to the right to register for the workshop