The Art For Aid Project

10/09/2026

Art Pals is a wonderful initiative created by Art for Aid to help youth in schools locally, connect to youth in remote community schools in Canada. It's simple to use. The pilot program has been launched with the Carleton Place Public Library and the Perth and District Public Library, but anyone can download the blank template and simply drop them off at the library for pickup. The drawings will become part of our art supply shipments.

Be sure to include your school name and address so someone can write back! Art can connect people across the miles!

(If you work at a remote community school in Canada, contact us through the website to get an Art Pals media package shipped to your community.
https://www.artforaid.ca/art-pals

10/08/2026

Kidz On The Land is an Art for Aid initiative that puts outdoor winter land-based learning gear into schools and programs for remote Indigenous youth.

This video depicts youth in Garden Hill, Manitoba learning to net fish. Youth in these programs learn how to support their community, along with learning valuable skills that support culture and connection. The joy can be heard with every pull of the net - Food sovereignty = community strength.

To support our work: https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/donation-form/the-art-for-aid-project-colleen-gray

In Garden Hill First Nation, Manitoba, youth are learning about ice...

10/01/2026

Art for Aid will be at Brunton Hall in Beckwith Township at Market Day this Sunday October 4th from 10-3pm.

Come and get some early holiday shopping done and support Art for Aid's efforts to put art supplies into remote Indigenous schools in Canada at no cost to the schools.

Can't get to Brunton Hall? Shop online at www.artforaidshop.ca

Hope to see you!

Lanark County Tourism

09/30/2026

Tomorrow morning your orange shirts will probably be in the laundry hamper. You'll smell the remnants of sage smoke in the fibres and you'll inhale deeply, savouring the medicine's gentle hold on your spirit. I do that too.

But the experiences you felt today will not be washed away. The tears you shed, the things you felt - they will not come out with soap and bleach. The connections that were made today are now living in the fibres of your shirt. They will not bend. They will not break. They were put there by your helpers, by the Creator of your understanding and by your desire to stand beside people who were hurt by something that was not right and not good - even if you can't truly understand the experience.

My understanding is that every orange shirt that attends a gathering where knowledge is shared, tears are shared, and love is felt collects drops of hope, and stores them in the fibres. Then when they're worn again (hopefully not just one month a year) - those drops gather more drops, until one day the person wearing the shirt is absorbing all that love and all that connection through their skin. Then when they put on their orange shirt, they might feel what "sacred" means - your shirt will become sacred and when you wear it, you will feel connected and sacred, regardless of where on this Earth your blood flows from.

This is what an orange shirt should do all year long, not just on September 30th. - this is my wish...but if I can only have this once a year, I will be happy with once a year. If you glance at your orange shirt in the back of the drawer some day down the line, just take it out. Wear it on a Thursday in December, wear it on Friday in February - but wear it as a champion, and remember.

This is how we keep pushing positive change forward - your shirt is your voice.

(original design by Little Reader Bird (with permission)

09/28/2026

Feel free to download and print this image to colour and share. This art was a gift and it's being paid forward.

Where did the phrase "Every child matters", come from?

• The Orange Shirt: In 1973, six-year-old Phyllis went to the St. Joseph Mission residential school near Williams Lake, BC. Her grandmother had bought her a bright, shiny orange shirt for her first day, which made her feel excited and important.

• Confiscation: When she arrived at the school, school authorities stripped her, took away her clothes—including the orange shirt—and never gave it back.

• The Feeling That She Didn't Matter: Phyllis later shared that the color orange came to symbolize how her feelings and worth did not matter to the people running the institution.

• Orange Shirt Day: In 2013, a reunion was held to commemorate the residential school's impact, where Phyllis shared her story. This led to the creation of Orange Shirt Day, established on September 30th to honor survivors and remember the children who never returned home.

• A National Rallying Cry: The phrase "Every Child Matters" was adopted as the core slogan for Orange Shirt Day and the broader movement for truth, reconciliation, and awareness surrounding the Canadian Indian residential school system.

09/22/2026

Hey Educators and Youth - want to support Art for Aid? Join the ArtPals Project!

ArtPals is a wonderful Art for Aid initiative that connects youth here with youth in remote fly-in communities in Canada using art. It's easy!

1) Download and print our template
2) Fill in your name, grade and school address on the front.
3) Create your art or positive message on the back
4) Send it to our office and we'll include it in our fall/winter art supply shipments

So Simple! All are welcome to participate in this program regardless of age and location. Contact us to get our mailing address.

To learn more or to download the template visit https://www.artforaid.ca/

09/21/2026

Today I was reminded of the kindness of strangers.

My basket is full. The Arts Carleton Place Art Hub offers people the opportunity to support Art for Aid every day. Gillian Marston and the Arts Carleton Place team work with Patrick John Mills of Art Factory Renfrew to create these terrific art bundles for sale. The bundles are sent to a remote Indigenous school or student art program in need of art support.

This small gesture brings huge results; art helps to break isolation and boredom, it beings people together, it invites critical thinking and it allows Educators to bring something fresh to the classroom.

We ship from September to May annually. Please pop into the Arts Carleton Place gallery to learn more about this wonderful initiative. The Art for Aid need list can be found here: www.artforaid.ca
Please review this list before doing your collection.

Chi miigwetch everyone!

To donate in support of our shipping needs:
https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/donation-form/the-art-for-aid-project-colleen-gray

Art for Aid is a program of the Canadian registered charity Soaring Circle. We are based in Carleton Place and ship from there. Please message us if you have art supplies to donate after October 1st.

09/20/2026

Please contact us to drop off your donation!

09/10/2026

Please consider supporting Art for Aid. Your donation receives a tax receipt and your support helps to fund our shipments to underserved Indigenous schools in remote communities in Canada.

Donate here: https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/donation-form/the-art-for-aid-project-colleen-gray

Miigwetch! Thank you!

08/30/2026

We use Canada Post because they are mandated to serve all remote Indigenous communities in Canada. The cost of reliable shipping is high but it's all part of what's needed to support access to art supplies for schools and youth art programs.

Art for Aid is entirely volunteer run and does not charge the schools for this service. We raise our own funds, and have relied on public support to keep this program going since 2013.

Please support access to art for Indigenous youth.
Shipping starts in September.

To donate: https://www.zeffy.com/donation-form/the-art-for-aid-project-colleen-gray