May 20, 2008

Passion and Mission

Maureen Kushner was in touch this morning. We have known Maureen for many years—she is a fine example of a woman-with-a-passion as well as a woman-on-a-mission….

Her passion and her mission is the Peace Through Humor Project which she started several years ago. Formerly an art teacher, Maureen originally worked in the New York City schools and has also used her considerable talents with kids who experienced terror attacks and life-threatening illnesses in Los Angeles, Oklahoma and other parts of the country.

Peace Through Humor has been Maureen’s focus for more than ten years….she has traveled throughout Israel visiting kids in Israeli, Arab, Bedouin and Druze schools where she worked with them to develop original paintings based upon the theme of war and peace. The artwork has become part of a traveling exhibit which was adopted by the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs and has journeyed more miles than most of us will ever do in our lifetime….Maureen tells me that at the end of this year, the paintings will be on view at Ben Gurion Airport!

Despite its impressive run, the success of the exhibit has been almost entirely borne by Maureen for she not only conceived of the idea but has also personally underwritten a very large part of its costs…which include framing, captions, art supplies, shipping and much, much more.

As the show moves from its present venue-The Mizel Museum in Denver, Maureen needs an infusion of funds to help with the costs of new captions, reproductions and other incidentals…the Good People Fund has just committed to contributing to these new costs…we believe in Maureen and we believe in what she is trying to foster, despite the sometimes bleak outlook we all embrace in times such as these…