Fundraising Art Exhibition for Mercy in Action
The call is for artists to exhibit at Mercy in Action's fundraising art exhibition next February.
Mercy in Action began over 15 years ago, when founders, John and Allison Todd, had an unexpected encounter with five street boys during a trip to the Philippines. The boys hadn’t eaten for three days and were begging on the streets. Moved by the plight of children the same age as their son, John and Allison took them for a meal of chicken and rice. John recalls the scene, “within the 30 minutes it took us to order the food and the boys to eat it, we both knew we couldn’t walk away from them, and so the seeds were sown for what has grown into a charity which to date has helped thousands of children and their families”.
Mercy in Action has grown far beyond those early beginnings of feeding hungry children. We have enlarged our vision to 'feeding the hungry today; equipping them for tomorrow', and we do this in a number of ways.
Mercy in Action now has 12 charity shops, 5 of which are in the Bath area. In the last 15 years, Mercy in Action has sponsored over 1,000 children through primary and secondary school and provides a hot nutritious meal for these school children every day. In addition, we take care of all the children's stationery, uniform and medical requirements.
Mercy in Action is not only concerned with meeting the immediate needs of the poor, but also equipping them and their families with the means to be able to become self-sufficient through small business enterprises. One of the ongoing successful enterprises is jewellery making.
Mercy in Action has also recently completed its first children's home where we can provide homeless and neglected children with a place that they can call home.
The theme for our exhibition is ‘Hope and Poverty’, two themes very close to our heart. Artists can choose whether to donate their work to Mercy in Action or to receive up to 50% of the profit from the sale of their work. The exhibition takes place at Paintworks, in Bristol's creative quarter and is from 14th-18th February. The exhibition is already being advertised on the Paintworks website,
www.paintworksbristol.co.uk
You can find more details about Mercy in Action on our website (
www.mercyinaction.org.uk ) and more information about the exhibition can be found at
www.hope-poverty.blogspot.com.