Art Feeds was created by Meg Bourne in 2009 with one student, in one simple classroom…
THE Creation story
In 2009, Meg was volunteering in a behavioral disorder classroom where one little boy was falling behind on his work. As she started looking into the problem further, she realized he wasn’t being fed at home, which made him lethargic at school. After solving his physical sustenance problems, she began working with him in various mediums with her own supplies because art is something she is passionate about. The transformation in this little boy was astounding. He thrived in watercolors and as his work and talent progressed, his self-worth grew. It was then that she saw that art was feeding this student emotionally and developmentally, which was just as essential to him as the food he was missing.
Meg continued to work with the rest of the classroom until her own supplies ran out. Because she was aware of the very apparent need for creative education and therapeutic art, she was confronted with the question: How do we sustain this? The idea was simple at the time, it was called Art Feeds and began with a design of “Art Feeds” in a student’s handwriting followed by a blank- allowing supporters to share their own experiences with art and expression by personalizing their shirts. This design paired with another student’s hand print perfectly shaped into a heart would serve as the Art Feeds logo. This logo and a $200 pay check printed the first batch of shirts. The shirts were sold and all the profit was used to provide art supplies to the kiddos. Shirt sales sustained the supplies for this single classroom. More classrooms were added to the programs with the mission of providing sustainable creative education and therapeutic art programs to children in need. The programs have steadily grown as our impact has increased. The original Art Feeds ________. shirt can still be purchased in the online store, click here to purchase, and fill in the blank to show what Art Feeds for you!