Drawn To Help

Children who are hospitalized while facing extremely difficult medical challenges often feel isolated and alone.  During the current pandemic, this situation has escalated tremendously.

Drawn To Help has responded to this by quickly moving from in-person visits to remote digital broadcasts and the preparation of a vast digital art library for the children and their caregivers to use.

We have seen firsthand how art has the power to uplift and heal the children we serve, and how the use of technology can bring our unique programs to young patients in areas we could not reach before.

With the assistance of the SOLVE team, our work could be replicated in other countries and scaled to help us touch the lives of young patients in impoverished countries, refugee camps and remote locations.

Art can help these children heal.  And we want to reach as many children as we possibly can.

In the United States alone, over 3 million children are admitted to hospitals every year.  Many can feel alone and forgotten, and sink into depression.  So you can just imagine the global scale of this problem.

Drawn To Help's solution is to bring the healing power of art to as many pediatric patients as we can.  Studies have shown that creative activities (like drawing cartoons) can lower a patient's stress levels, lift them out of depression and release powerful endorphins into the body that assist in the healing process.

The drawings the children create can also assist Art Therapists and the nursing staff as they assess how the children are feeling and address emotional challenges the kids are experiencing.

Drawn To Help inspires the young patients we serve to keep fighting, and the art supplies we give to them help them continue to experience the healing power of our programs long after our volunteers have gone home, and after our digital broadcasts have ended.

Everything Drawn To Help does is free to the patients and the facilities treating them, because the high cost of medical care can throw many families into poverty, and that is a global problem.

Drawn To Help's solution is two-fold at the moment.  In response to the challenges Covid-19 has created, we took our programs from in-person visits to digital services.

When we are able to return to the hospitals to do bedside visits and group programs, we will.

But our use of Zoom meetings and remote closed-circuit TV programs has shown us that technology can help us expand our outreach tremendously.

Some of our volunteers are doing regular broadcasts from home, reaching the children in their hospital beds via closed-circuit television stations that are located in hospital libraries.  Others are doing Zoom visits.

Drawn To Help saw a real need for more things like coloring pages, especially in smaller hospitals and low income areas.  So we created a vast digital art activity library that has a wide collection of coloring pages, mazes and other activities that will provide what is known as "pleasant distraction" for the young patients we serve.

Cartoonists and artists from around the world have contributed their work.

Our first version of that library has begun going out to caregivers and patients around the country now, and we'll be getting their feedback on how to improve the next updated version.

Illness and disease does not discriminate.  It can touch a child from all walks of life and every ethnic background.  Our target population is every single young patient who needs us.

Many are underserved due to their economic circumstances or their location.

Drawn To Help is trying to rectify that by providing our services free of charge.

One way we are working on understanding their needs is to speak to them directly, encourage input from their caregivers and look for innovative solutions to the challenges they are facing.

75 of our digital art activity libraries were recently distributed to pediatric patients in a wide range of ages and locations.  They are using those flash drives themselves, and also allowing the hospitals that treat them to download all of the images on a central computer so they can be used by every patient in the hospital.

That is a very effective approach, because some children do not have phones or laptops that will accept flash drives.  So the ability to access them on a central computer solves that problem.  They (or their caregivers) can download any art activity they choose and either print them out to color manually or import them into an art app and work on them digitally.

The children in this test group can also report back to us about ease of use and content they'd like to see added in future versions.  That will help us create an even better art activity library for all of the patients we serve, and the flash drives will be updated on a regular basis.

Drawn To Help's programs are offered to every pediatric patient we can possibly reach, regardless of ethnicity, economic situations or any other factors.

These children are our future, and they need our help and encouragement.  We can touch their lives in a uniquely deep and meaningful way.  And the use of technology to reach pediatric patients wherever they are and concentrate our efforts on the most underserved hospitalized children aligns with the goals of this Challenge.

We want to reach more minority populations, poorer children and those who can truly be uplifted and encouraged by what Drawn To Help does.

Drawn To Help began as an individual effort, in response to a suggestion from a dear friend of our founder's observation of the incredible impact art programs had on her son and his fellow patients when he was diagnosed with Leukemia.

Those individual efforts rapidly grew into an organization serving multiple hospitals and camps for children who were battling cancer and other serious illnesses.

For several years, we functioned as a fiscally sponsored program so we could raise the necessary funds to continue to expand.  And in 2020 we became a full nonprofit.

We have grown to the point where we are now serving patients and treatment facilities in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Illinois and Ohio.

Most of our growth was due to word-of-mouth within the medical community, and that's a testament to how powerful what we do is.

I know of no other organizations who are providing fun flash drives for pediatric patients and their caregivers.  Artists from all over the world have contributed their art for our digital art activity library.  And, in the next updated edition we will be adding lots of new art.  One author/illustrator has also given us permission to include an entire book of fun activities that he has written.

And, we intend to begin preparing videos with easy to follow instructions that could be included on flash drives with larger memories.

These flash drives could be a catalytic change maker, in that they enable us to reach children in hospitals everywhere, as well as those who are homebound and isolated in their bedrooms.

We plan to greatly expand our outreach through digital visits.  In fact, several of our volunteers are already doing those.  And I am personally doing digital broadcasts to children who are taking part in remote camp experiences this year.

With a little financial help and additional guidance, we could broaden our outreach tremendously, and reach tens of thousands of children who really need us right now.

Currently Serving: 5,000

Hoping to Serve in One Year: 10,000 to 15,000

Number we would like to serve in five years:  As many as we possibly can.  We'd love to see the figures go over 100,000 and even higher.

And I think that is totally possible, because what we do is eminently affordable compared to the work of many other nonprofits.

Those numbers grow substantially when you realize that we also always include siblings and family members whenever possible, because they are suffering too.  So our outreach ripples out to touch many more lives than just those of the pediatric patients we serve directly.

We are measuring our progress by the growing numbers of hospitals and treatment facilities that have reached out to see if we can serve their patients.

And by the number of requests we are getting for our digital services, especially the special flash drives we have created.

Another way to gauge our success and progress is by the amount of interest hospitals are showing in both our digital programs and our in-person visits.  For example, when I was helping the staff at Camp Courage prepare gift packs for their campers who are "camping" remotely this year, one of the lead pediatric doctors at the hospital in Greenville, South Carolina was working next to me.  She has seen our programs in action, and personally witnessed children who were crying in pain and fear during their treatments suddenly begin to giggle and smile while they got to draw cartoons at the same time.

She and one of the Child Life Specialists at the hospital said that they are gearing up to be a center for the treatment of children with Sickle Cell Anemia, and they asked if Drawn To Help would work with those young patients in the future, both at the hospital and at a special camp that is being created for them.

I happily agreed.  And that kind of professional recognition of the importance of what we do is also a great measurement of our success.

Full Time Staff: 1 (That would be me.)

Part-Time Staff: None at the moment.

Contractors: 1 (Our bookkeeper, who is also volunteering additional time to help out.)

Board Members: 3 (And myself, as the Executive Director.)

Volunteers: 28

(There are actually more volunteers than that if you include the local Girl Scout Troop that has offered to help us pack the art supply gifts we give and send to the children, and others who have offered to help with fundraising in a variety of ways.)

Our board member Erik Dellenback was the Executive Director of the Tim Tebow Foundation for 8 years, and helped them grow from a small organization to an extremely large one serving pediatric patients around the country.  His guidance and involvement is invaluable to us as we continue to grow.

Amy McGuire, our Treasurer and my trusted confidant, has spent her entire working life involved with nonprofits in a variety of positions.  Amy's past experience with fundraising and growing organizations she's been involved with gives Drawn To Help a vast wealth of knowledge we might otherwise not have.

And James West, our newest addition, oversaw grant making functions for The Pollination Project for 7 years.  In fact, he helped secure the first grant I ever received as an individual to do this work.  And The Pollination Project has continued to provide Impact Grants to Drawn To Help ever since.  James also brings a vast knowledge of technology with him, and contacts for grant seeking.

Our volunteers all have a lot of experience working with pediatric patients in hospital settings, and help us understand the needs of "our kids" by listening to suggestions from them, their parents and their caregivers.  We discuss these things on a regular basis so we can continue to make our mission as successful and helpful as possible.

We are guided by hospital staff, art therapists and the children themselves so that we can provide the best service possible.

We embody the values of diversity, equity and inclusion by including every child we encounter with the best loving, caring and compassionate service we possibly can.  No child is ever turned away, regardless of their ethnicity, religious background or sexual orientation.

Every child counts.

We are striving to include people of more diverse backgrounds on our board in the coming year, and in our group of volunteers.  We are also reaching out to people of color and women in the industry to enable them to volunteer in their areas, and participate more in our digital programs.

I believe that in the coming months we will be recruiting a wide array of people from all walks of life to join our efforts.  And a Solve grant could help us attain that goal.

Although I would welcome the grant money associated with becoming a solver, I think it is just as important to make contacts with trusted peers who will offer guidance and input as Drawn To Help continues to grow and develop.  And, I would hope that I can also share my expertise with other fellows along the way.

The ability to access mentorship, coaching and strategic advice from experts would be absolutely invaluable to me personally, and to our organization.

I would definitely appreciate assistance in building a better model for measuring our impact and being able to report that to donors and grantors.

We could certainly make good use of better media exposure and advice on increasing and utilizing our social media presence.

And access to in-kind services would help us increase our outreach to pediatric patients in a big way, and assist our organization as we continue to grow.

The benefits to becoming a Solver are tremendous, and I'm looking forward to the possibility of becoming one.

Although I believe my contacts in the cartooning and children's book illustration world enable me to continue to attract top talent to our list of volunteers, I wouldn't shy away from assistance in that area.

But I do see a real need for some guidance in strategy and development, as well as in public relations.  We really need to get the word out about what Drawn To Help is doing, and why our mission is so important and vital.

And we definitely need to develop better ways to collect data and measure our impact.  So assistance in that area would be greatly appreciated, and could help us find more funding when people can truly see our outreach.

In-kind technology and advice in that area would also be greatly welcomed, because we want to make use of any tools that might be available to us to enable us to better fulfill our mission.  And experts in that field could potentially offer us ideas that we haven't even thought of yet.

We would most likely only need legal advice from time to time, but I am sure that there are some instances where that would be extremely helpful to us.

I don't have any specific names in mind at the moment, but I would definitely appreciate input and assistance from any person or organization that recognizes the true value of what we are doing and wants to get involved.

I am open to suggestions on organizations that would like to assist us in any way.  And I would love to have input from MIT faculty members or fellow Solve Members.

If someone has suggestions on how we can advance our solution in a better or bigger way, I'm all ears.

Any partners who could help us continue to grow and reach even more pediatric patients, perhaps in ways we haven't even imagined yet, would be greatly appreciated

Drawn To Help's solution directly addresses the health and well being of not only the pediatric patients that we serve, but also their siblings and family members.

We have seen our programs lift young patients out of deep depressions, help reduce pain and relieve stress.  And that impacts everyone around them, lifting the spirits of their brothers and sisters, their parents and often their caregivers as well.

We would use a Robert Wood Foundation Prize to help sustain our organization and to reach as many more pediatric patients as we possibly can.  Funding would go to expand our programs to as many new hospitals as we can, while still serving the hospitals and treatment centers we now serve in 8 states.

It would also enable us to produce and distribute many more of our flash drives containing art activities to hospitals and patients across the country.

Drawn To Help's digital art activity library could be used provide equitable educational opportunities for children in hospitals.  Many of them are at treatment facilities for lengthy periods of time, often for a few months and sometimes for over a year or more.

That means that they are tutored in the hospital and cannot attend school with their friends and peers.

But we could use an HP Prize for Advancing Digital Equity for pediatric patients, including more material that advances inclusion and helps the children learn digital literacy.

Our art libraries are set up so that the activities they contain can be printed out on paper and worked on by hand, or imported into art apps on phones, laptops and tablets and colored digitally.

An AI for Humanity Prize might open new worlds to us as we continue to consider new ways to assist the pediatric patients we serve.  We might be able to discover technology that we hadn't even considered at this point, and be able to use it in an effective way to reach many more young people who are battling for their lives.

Although Drawn To Help's programs are currently using flash drives and remote visits utilizing various computer technologies, an AI for Humanity Prize might help us advance our solution in new ways that would deeply touch the lives of the children we serve.