Community Giving, All Year Long
As we embark on our eighth year of business here at Fancywork we are reflecting on how gratified we feel towards the warmth of our fiber arts community and the generosity you’ve all collectively shown through our year-round Community Giving program and events.
From our Knitalongs, Sip & Stitch, and Crochet Café gatherings, to our classes and pop-up shops, we hear from our customers that what they love most about Fancywork Yarn Shop are the opportunities to gather, make, and give back. Our fiber arts community is strong because it is inclusive, diverse, peaceful, loving, secure, safe and generous.
Together we’ve raised nearly $17,000 for non-profits in our community and around the world including Warm Springs Community Action Team, Saving Grace, OUT Central Oregon, NeighborImpact, refugee relief in Ukraine through USA for UNHCR, and more. In an era where authentic human connection can feel elusive at times, we find ourselves particularly tuned to the emotional challenges faced by the younger members of society. With our community’s youth on our minds and in our hearts, we are proud to support Hearts Unknown Education (HÚE) through our Community Giving Program all year-round.
Hearts Unknown Education (HÚE), is a 501(c)(3) non-profit based in Bend, Oregon, that uses the creative arts to offer imaginative experiences in a safe and supportive environment, guiding young people (K-12) who may be struggling emotionally – particularly those with anxiety or depression – or who may be having a tough time coping with the state of the world. HÚE’s Creative Wellness programs foster free expression while encouraging youth to explore their inner selves and emotions through art.
A Note from Executive Director, Nicola Carpinelli
On behalf of HÚE’s students, volunteers, and board, I would like to thank the community and our friends at Fancywork for your support and generosity!
Hearts Unknown Education (HÚE) is a community-based nonprofit that offers no-cost programs in Creative Wellness to foster free expression while encouraging youth to explore their inner selves and emotions through art. Participating in creative expression through art can be a refuge from intense emotions, decrease anxiety and calm neural activity, relieve stress, help one to process life events, and positively impact overall mental health.
We are stretching and growing to meet the high need of our community’s youth and families. Our goal is to be there daily for children, giving them a place to create and connect. Your donations will ensure that our kids have art workshops, mental health support, and a safe place to land.
We believe if you can’t say it, paint it!
What your donation will do:
- Increase access to qualified mental health support
- Expand class availability and offerings
- Provide materials for students to express themselves
- Allow more Central Oregon children to access this community resource.
Many Blessings,
Nicola Carpinelli
Executive Director, HÚE
Youth At Risk
An alarming report from from the American Academy of Child and Pediatric Psychiatry tells us that suicide is the second leading cause of death for children, adolescents, and young adults 15 to 24 years old. Oregon Health Sciences University researchers found a significant increase in suicidal overdoses beginning around 2012. The most significant increase is seen among children 10- to 12-years old, representing a five-fold increase. While the increase in persistent sadness and feelings of helplessness spans the gender spectrum, the CDC reports the teen girls experience these feelings at twice the rate of teen boys. The mental crisis among children was so dire as to to be declared a national state of emergency by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) and the Children’s Hospital Association (CHA).
HÚE Saves Lives
Stories like this one are the "why" behind every brushstroke made possible by HÚE.
This past February, my daughter was grappling with significant mental health considerations, including suicidal ideation and an unwillingness to eat. She felt the weight of the world on her shoulders, battling intrusive thoughts and shame that didn't belong to her.
Jumping from therapist to therapist due to unexpected circumstances with the offices, she finally found someone who recommended exploring HÚE. The week she attended HÚE for the first time was a critical point for her. Deciding whether she wanted to live and get better not.
After dropping my entire heart off at HÚE, I expected nothing. Several hours later, I returned to find my daughter smiling for the first time in weeks. She rolled her teenage eyes at my sudden tears and told me to stop embarrassing her. On the way out, she grazed the snack table, grabbed a piece of fruit, and bopped out the door, leaving me in a wake of utter shock and emotion.
I'm writing today to tell you that you all at HÚE save lives. You save the lives of the wallflower children who are desperately trying to navigate this world, trying to figure out where all the shame that doesn't belong to them goes. You create space for belonging, for creation, and most importantly, for healing—the kind of healing that you don’t really know is taking place.
My daughter now eats food, has a wonderful new therapist who is helping her look long-term, not just today for safety planning, and can acknowledge the intrusive thoughts as "not facts." She wants to be a writer and go into law, work at Ida's for her first job, and still make space for the days that don't feel great.
I am forever grateful for HÚE. Not all stories that started like ours end with the joy we now feel in living life. Thank you forever and always!
– A Grateful HÚE Parent
Hearts Unknown Education (HÚE)
HÚE offers creative wellness and free expression classes for at-risk youth ages 5-18. These classes are focused not just on the fun of creating art, but also on the act of creating as a path to releasing pain and to healing. “Art is connection, it is at the heart of everything in life,” Carpinelli states. “We offer a safe and supportive space for kids struggling with anxiety, depression, really just struggling to cope with life. We teach them creative utility, or my new word ‘creatility,’ helping them find tools so that they might be able to clear space and face what comes next in life.”
From its first class of four students held at Layor Art Supply in April 2022, HÚE has grown to serving over 200 students each week. The non-profit currently offers arts programming three days each week. All classes are free of charge, removing economic barriers that are often a hurdle to enrichment programs for low-income families. Because Carpinelli is a bilingual speaker, HÚE classes are accessible to the Spanish-speaking community as well.
In addition, HÚE is able to offer limited therapy support through the generosity of local therapists who have donated their time and expertise, allowing youth and families to access care at no cost.
Where You Come In
With the popularity of HÚE classes – from humble beginnings with 4 students to serving over 300 young artists in just 5 short years – the most immediate and urgent need for the non-profit is to fund it's mental health initiative. A $35,000 annual budget covers clinical supervision, therapist-in-training support and stipend, program operations and family access support, clinical infrastructure and compliance, program supplies and therapeutic materials.
The projected impact of this initiative in just the first year is:
- 1 graduate-level therapist-in-training serving youth weekly (~7 hours)
- 120–150 free counseling sessions annually
- A fully furnished, private, trauma-informed counseling space within HÚE
- Early intervention and prevention before hospitalization or crisis-level care
- Workforce development pipeline for Central Oregon mental health professionals
Beyond financial support, HÚE welcomes volunteers to help support art classes in all disciplines, including fiber arts.
The team at Fancywork feels a strong connection to the important work that HÚE is doing in our community as so many of us approach our craft in a similar way. The process of making provides a creative balm to help us through times of stress, anxiety, depression or other unwelcome feelings that may be knocking at the door. Yarn and needles, hooks, looms and wheels allow us to focus meditatively on the project at hand and take a mental break from the demands of the day. HÚE offers a similar experience in a safe, inclusive space for young people just learning to find their way.
Join us in supporting the mental health and well-being of children and young adults in our community through our year-round Community Giving Program benefiting Hearts Unknown Education.
To learn more about Hearts Unknown Education (HÚE), visit their website.
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