Soldier of Love - charity print for Heart Awareness Month

[armandoCSH]

As you might be aware, February is Heart Awareness Month and since I have had personal experiences with children born with congenital heart defects (approximately 1 in every 100 children will be born with a heart defect) and am affected with one myself, I wanted to donate to a charity involved with research or curing heart-related illnesses and defects.

But which one? An obvious choice would be the American Heart Foundation, but I have heard some disheartening things about them and do not feel that donating some print sales would make the greatest impact.

Which led me to the Internation Children's Heart Foundation, whose mission is "to bring the skills, technology and knowledge to cure and care for children with congenital heart disease in developing nations. ICHF does this regardless of country of origin, race, religion or gender. Our goal is to make the need for ICHF obsolete. We work toward this goal through our medical mission trips, where we operate on children and educate local healthcare professionals."

Also from their website:

$ 25 – Your gift combines with others to provide life-saving surgeries
$ 50 – The cost of training materials for the local staff
$ 100 – The cost of medicine for one life-saving surgery
$ 250 – The cost of one surgical heart patch to heal a heart
$ 500 – The cost of surgical heart patches to heal two heart’s
$ 1000 – The cost of airfare for a doctor or nurse to save lives
$ 3500 – The cost of a heart surgery to save a child’s life
$ 20000 – The cost to sponsor a Babyheart surgical team
$ 55000 – The cost to sponsor a Babyheart medical mission

While the cost of some of those items are probably out of reach, I really think we can make a difference in the life or lives of others if we call come together to help.


So, I propose to release a time-limited screen print edition of the above image, entitled Soldier of Love, and donate ALL of the the profits from the print to charity. It would be a two color screen print with gloss screen printed over the heart and other colored sections.

Please let me know if there are any other worthwhile charities you know of that could also use our help. If there is interest, I am also thinking of printing a purple heart colorway for donation to the Wounded Warrior Foundation or similar charity that help veterans. There may also be a small, alternate colorway available first to my mailing list, contact me at armando@armandochainsawhands.com or visit my website in my signature to join up.

I am thinking the sale would start this week sometime and run for a few days to a week, depending on interest. Let me know what you think, I want to hear your thoughts. Yes, I know it is a Banksy and Mr Brainwash modded mashup with some tweaks, but I feel like the image itself is too good to go unused when it could actually help lives.

Thanks for caring,
Shepard Fairey
Armando Chainsawhands

Edit: fixed the red in the pic, it should match closer to that, a little lighter than previously. With a gloss layer on top of the color, it should really look nice. Also included the purple colorway and a likely pink one as well, let me know what you think- good or bad, it's all good

[mitchupitchu]

I am the proudest father of the bravest 2 year old I know who was born with Tricoratriatum. He had a successful surgery in Jan' 2016.

I would happily purchase a print.

[armandoCSH]

I am the proudest father of the bravest 2 year old I know who was born with Tricoratriatum. He had a successful surgery in Jan' 2016.

I would happily purchase a print.

So glad to hear about your little one

[armandoCSH]

The timed editions will be on sale at http://www.armandochainsawhands.com/sol ... ove-1.html and will start Thursday, February 8 at noon CST and last until Wednesday, February 14 at noon CST. However many prints are sold in that time period will determine the edition size. Please expect a few weeks after the sale for printing and shipping.

There will also be a Purple Heart version to support the Wounded Warrior Foundation (https://www.woundedwarriorproject.org) on sale at the same time as the Red edition.


From their website:

With advancements in battlefield medicine and body armor, an unprecedented percentage of service members are surviving severe wounds or injuries. For every US soldier killed in World Wars I and II, there were 1.7 soldiers wounded. In Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, for every US soldier killed, seven are wounded. Combined, over 48,000 servicemen and women have been physically injured in the recent military conflicts.

In addition to the physical wounds, it is estimated as many as 400,000 service members live with the invisible wounds of war including combat-related stress, major depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Another 320,000 are believed to have experienced a traumatic brain injury while on deployment.


With the mission to honor and empower Wounded Warriors, WWP is the hand extended to encourage warriors as they adjust to their new normal and achieve new triumphs. Offering a variety of programs and services, WWP is equipped to serve warriors with every type of injury – from the physical to the invisible wounds of war.


WE CONNECT warriors, their families, and caregivers to peers, programs, and communities.


WE SERVE by providing free mental health and wellness, physical health and wellness, career and benefits counseling, and support for the most severely injured.


WE EMPOWER warriors to live life on their own terms, mentor fellow warriors, and embody the WWP logo by carrying their peers toward recovery.


Please spread the word so we can help as many people as possible!

Thank you,
A

[letstalkprints]

Maybe I missed something. How much is a print?

[ccsmd598]

This is a really great cause - so happy to see this and I’ll definitely help out.

I’m a pediatric echocardiographer and it’s sad to see how congenital heart disease can throw a wrench into parent’s lives, especially when it occurs so unexpectedly (not caught in fetal life) . These charities definitely need all the support they can get

I’ll see if we can get a bunch purchased for our echo lab!

[Woo5lscott]

I'd buy the purple

[armandoCSH]

Maybe I missed something. How much is a print?

Sorry, hadn't quite figured that part out yet. $50 per print, two color print with an additional gloss screen printed layer on the heart and colored bits. I think it'll really make it pop and stand out a bit more.

Prints will go on sale this Thursday at noon CST and will run until next Wednesday (Valentine's Day) at noon CST.

More info here http://www.armandochainsawhands.com/sol ... ove-1.html, mailing list email with all the details will go out tomorrow, please pass the word along to those you'd think would be interested and let's really try to make a difference in some lives!


A

[armandoCSH]

This is a really great cause - so happy to see this and I’ll definitely help out.

I’m a pediatric echocardiographer and it’s sad to see how congenital heart disease can throw a wrench into parent’s lives, especially when it occurs so unexpectedly (not caught in fetal life) . These charities definitely need all the support they can get

I’ll see if we can get a bunch purchased for our echo lab!

Definitely.

And I think it could really help out the ICHF and it seems like they're really doing some great work.

[armandoCSH]

The prints are up!

I also updated the Prints page http://www.armandochainsawhands.com/prints-1.html

[andyfarrimond]

+1 - lovely print and lovely gesture, good luck, hope that you sell a boatload!!

[armandoCSH]

+1 - lovely print and lovely gesture, good luck, hope that you sell a boatload!!

Thank you for your support, it is much appreciated!

I hope so too, we've sold a few but are a ways off if we want to really make a difference with our donations, so PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD!

Thank you, everyone!
A

[armandoCSH]

Little less than 2 days to go with the sale, wish the response was a bit more overwhelming, but at least we have sold enough prints to cover printing costs and any extra prints to donate to the causes to use for various events, sponsors, participants, etc.

Updated the page at http://www.armandochainsawhands.com/prints-1.html



might have snuck the mailing list-only limited variant in there

Spread the word, thanks!

[armandoCSH]

Just a few more hours left on the timed edition sale!

A few more sales have trickled in, as well as a very charitable purchase!! We should have enough to make a financial contribution to the charities involved as well as some prints for them!

Thank you so much, everyone- for your support, for spreading the word, or for just becoming more aware about the issues involved.


A

[FloB]

+1 like the image and the cause