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NOTE TO THE MEDIA: For interviews, photos, or additional information
Please call William Fitzgerald, wbfitzgerald@mdanderson.org
713-792-9518 in the Communications Office.

For more than 35 years, the Children's Art Project at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has made life better for children with cancer. Through worldwide sales of young cancer patients' original artwork featured on seasonal note cards and gift items, the project has funded $27 million to programs that benefit cancer patients and their families. Each year, the project offers Holiday, Everyday and Valentine collections of note cards and gift items.

Benefits    Products   Audience   Volunteers

Benefits
Proceeds from card and gift sales funded $1.25 million in programs benefiting MD Anderson patients last year. While the Children's Art Project's highest priority is giving children with cancer opportunities to live a more normal childhood and prepare successfully for adulthood, the project also provides programs accessible to the more than 96,000 patients of all ages served this year at MD Anderson.

Last summer, more than 200 youngsters attended summer camp, and this fall, young adults — all patients or former patients of MD Anderson — will begin college or graduate school with help from scholarships funded by Children's Art Project proceeds. Additional programs funded by the project include a ski trip for physically challenged patients, creative art classes, an in-hospital school and a variety of child life programs.

Products
New designs appear every season. Greeting and note cards remain a mainstay of the Children's Art Project collection, but the line also features tote bags, silk scarves, ties, ceramics, and other items with the young patients' imaginative artwork. For Holiday 2010, the Children’s Art Project is delighted to offer a new product line including: Radko ornaments, stationery, resin ornaments and frames, & ceramic mugs and serving dishes. There are also some specialty items for Halloween and Thanksgiving.

Audience
Thousands of individual supporters and companies have become regular customers purchasing,
MD Anderson cards for business and personal use through direct mail catalogues. The Children's Art Project has been featured on numerous television and radio programs, as well as in newspapers and magazines coast to coast. CAP cards and gifts are sold in more than 2,000 retail outlets in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Florida and a few locations in Arkansas.
 

Volunteers
The Children's Art Project is blessed with thousands of community volunteers who contribute their time and talents to the project year-round. Last year alone, volunteers donated almost 481,526 hours to the project – the equivalent of 232 full-time employees. Children's Art Project volunteer opportunities range from the creative to administrative. Volunteers may work weekly addressing catalogues for delivery across the country and handling the packaging of more than 16,000 customer orders or may choose to volunteer on special one-time projects. More than 2,000 grocery stores, service stations, banks, community groups, gift shops and other businesses lend their support by promoting and/or selling the cards as a public service.