GIFTS OF GRATITUDE GALLERY — Youth Art For Healing

Painting created by a student artist from Charles H. Flowers High School during the 2021-22 school year as a Gift of Gratitude for a frontline healthcare worker.

YAFH was founded with the mission to provide a sense of comfort, inspiration, and healing for patients and their loved ones, and healthcare professionals. From our launch through the 2019-20 school year, our YAFH student artists created paintings designed for specific healthcare locations in the Washington D.C. metro area and beyond.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic limited our access to healthcare locations and our ability to execute the original YAFH program model. So the YAFH team came up with a new idea for the 2020-21 school year that would be an extension of our mission: students would create paintings for individual healthcare workers to encourage them and thank them for their service. YAFH healthcare partners embraced this idea, and both art teachers and students welcomed the idea that they could help spread comfort and healing through their artwork during the pandemic.

During the 2020-21 school year, in addition to two healthcare location-based projects, our student artists created 76 amazing Gifts of Gratitude paintings to give to frontline healthcare heroes to thank them for their dedicated service during the COVID-19 pandemic. The healthcare professionals who received Gifts of Gratitude are able to keep their new paintings at home or at work with them for daily encouragement.

That is how Gifts of Gratitude began. Because frontline healthcare workers continued to bravely battle COVID-19, we continued the program into the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years.

“After so much loss I personally experienced this year, this gift by Youth Art For Healing brought me a sense of peace I had not felt in awhile. Thank you for that. I am honored to be a recipient of your kindness and talent.”

- Gina, Emergency Department Nurse, MedStar Montgomery Medical Center

Gifts of Gratitude Participation

Painting created by a student artist from A. Mario Loiederman Middle School during the 2021-22 school year as a Gift of Gratitude for a frontline healthcare worker.

During the 2020-21 school year, students from Charles H. Flowers High School, Gaywood Elementary School, Montgomery Blair High School, Richard Montgomery High School, Tilden Middle School, Walt Whitman High School, and Watkins Mill High School created 76 works of art to give to frontline healthcare workers. Participating healthcare partners included Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center, Children's National Emergency Department at United Medical Center, Children's National Hospital, MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, MedStar Montgomery Medical Center, MedStar NRH Rehabilitation Network – Bel Air, and MedStar NRH Rehabilitation Network – Dundalk. In late spring of 2021, some of our student artists met frontline healthcare workers from these locations and personally gave them their Gifts of Gratitude paintings.

During the 2021-22 school year, 303 students from 14 schools created 125 works of art for healthcare workers. Participating schools included A. Mario Loiederman Middle School, Albert Einstein High School, Benjamin D. Foulois Creative and Performing Arts Academy, Brightwood Education Campus, Charles H. Flowers High School, Gaywood Elementary School, Largo High School, Thomas S. Wootton High School, Thurgood Marshall Middle School, Watkins Mill High School, Wheaton High School, and White Oak Middle School. Participating healthcare partners included Adventist Healthcare Shady Grove Medical Center, Holy Cross Hospital, MedStar Montgomery Medical Center, and the University of Maryland Medical Center.

During the 2022-23 school year, students from six schools created 37 works of art to give to individual frontline healthcare workers. Participating schools included Benjamin D. Foulois Creative and Performing Arts Academy, Georgetown Day School, Largo High School, Silver Creek Middle School, St. Andrew Apostle School, and Watkins Mill High School. Participating healthcare partners included Adventist Healthcare Shady Grove Medical Center, Adventist Healthcare White Oak Medical Center, and Holy Cross Hospital.

The students’ beautiful, uplifting works of art from all three school years can be viewed below.

“I want to thank your students for this exquisite art piece. This masterpiece was created by students from Wootton High School. It is absolutely gorgeous, reminds me of the California Coast where I grew up. Please convey my gratitude to the student artists on a job well done."

- Kim, Healthcare Provider, Holy Cross Hospital