When ABC needed an artist to paint a mural for their season finale of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Sunday May 20th , Eric Waugh
was the natural choice. The two-hour finale benefits Camp Heartland, a summer
camp for children affected by HIV/AIDS and their
families. The show includes a makeover of the home of one of the Camp’s children as well as a makeover of one of the camps.
Waugh’s contribution includes creating a 12’ X 36’ mural for the camp’s new recreation center.
Waugh has been involved with Camp Heartland for 12 years and being one of the camp’s biggest supporters made Waugh a perfect
fit as the artist to paint a mural during the show. Eric worked with designer Michael Maloney to determine the mural placement
in the stage area of the new recreational facility and then it was up to Waugh’s artistic instincts, which lead to him to
create a mural titled “Four Seasons of Fun.”
The mural depicts children playing at camp during each of the four seasons, and for the first time, Waugh incorporated angels
in his work. For nearly 36 hours, Waugh painted around the clock, often times having to stop and come back in order for flooring,
molding and lighting volunteers to complete each phase.
Tom Lotrecchiano and Joe Schmidt, Co-owners of Canvas on Demand, have been friends of Camp Heartland and Eric Waugh since they
worked together on the “World’s Largest Painting” project to benefit Camp Heartland in 2001. When Eric asked his friends to help,
Canvas On Demand dove right in. We’ve committed to produce 1000 reproductions of the Mural at our expense, so 100% of the purchase
pricing going directly to benefit the kids that attend Camp Heartland.
Thank you so much for purchasing one of these beautiful murals and supporting Camp Heartland.
Click here for more information
For more information about Eric Waugh go to www.ericwaugh.com
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A Simple Act of Kindness
In 1991, Neil Willenson, a native of Mequon, Wisconsin, was 20 years old and a senior at the University of Wisconsin- Madison.
He was majoring in TV/Film and, upon graduation, had plans to seek a career as a feature film producer in Hollywood. All that changed,
however, when Neil read the headline in his hometown newspaper: "AIDS hysteria in Mequon." A young boy with AIDS named Nile Sandeen
was entering kindergarten in the small town of Mequon, and the community was up in arms. Fear and prejudice filled the air. At the
center of all this controversy was a five-year-old boy who only wanted to go to school, who only wanted a chance to make friends.
When Neil read this story in his hometown paper, he knew he had to get involved.
For the next two years, Neil got to know Nile. He
got to know Nile's brother, Sean, and his mother, Dawn Wolff; an entire family affected by AIDS in the center of America's heartland.
Neil compared his own life-history in Mequon to Nile's. On the sidewalks, streets and in the schools of Mequon, where Neil had found
joy and friendship, Nile had found only isolation and despair. Fear, ignorance and prejudice had turned what had been a heartland
for Neil Willenson into a wasteland for Nile Sandeen. Neil was so moved by his experiences with the Wolff family that in 1992,
he and friend Brad Elliott produced created and distributed a documentary film on the family entitled, "One More Day - a Family
Living with AIDS." This award winning family was broadcast on PBS and shown at schools nationwide.
In 1993, Nile turned seven years old. Like millions of other children, more than anything, he wanted to go to summer camp.
He wanted to run; to play in the sun with kids his own age. He wanted to sit around a campfire at the end of a day filled with fun
activities and sing silly summer camp songs in the dancing firelight - to eat breakfast in a dining hall ringing with joy and activity.
A Life-Changing Mission
And so in 1993, inspired by Nile Sandeen, Neil Willenson founded Camp Heartland - a summer camp program that accepted both children
infected with AIDS and children who were affected by the disease. The camp was equipped with state-of-the-art medical facilities able
to handle the special needs of immuno-compromised campers. It was a summer camping program where children living with HIV/AIDS
could step out of the shadows of secrecy into the light of openness and honesty - a place where they could have the best week of their lives.
During that first summer, 73 children with AIDS were welcomed to Camp Heartland at a rented campsite in Wisconsin with funds raised
by Neil Willenson and a few dozen college students. After five years of renting campsites around the country, Camp Heartland in 1997
purchased its own, permanent home: The Camp Heartland Center in Willow River, Minnesota.
Set amidst 88 wooded acres in Northern Minnesota, with access to three lakes and miles of wilderness trails, the Camp Heartland
Center is an extraordinary haven. It is a light in the darkness for children who live every day of their lives in a thickly shadowed
world of chronic illness and discrimination.
Making a Year-Round, Life-Long Impact
What began as Neil's quest to give one little boy a week of friendship and summertime fun, has now become a year-round community
making a life-long impact for hundreds of children and their families. Year-round programs such as camp reunions, newsletters and
holiday mailings, youth retreats and life enhancement programs reinforce young people's sense of belonging and well-being on an
ongoing basis. As we look to the future, we're confident that with your help, the number of lives we can touch will be countless.
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