Traditionally, our YAFH student artists have created paintings designed for specific healthcare locations in the Washington D.C. metro area and beyond. YAFH was founded with the mission to provide a sense of comfort, inspiration and healing for patients and their loved ones, and healthcare professionals.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic limited our access to healthcare locations, so the YAFH team put our heads together and came up with a new idea that would be an extension of our original mission. Our healthcare partners embraced this idea, and art teachers and their 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 amazing Gifts of Gratitude paintings to give to frontline healthcare HEROES to thank them for their 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 for daily encouragement.

That is how Gifts of Gratitude began and because frontline healthcare workers have continued to bravely battle COVID-19, we continued the program into the 2021-22 school year.

2020-21 Gifts of Gratitude

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. These beautiful, uplifting works of art can be viewed below.

We’re pleased that in the late spring of 2021, some of our student artists got to meet frontline healthcare workers and personally give them their Gifts of Gratitude paintings.

Charles h. flowers high school

gaywood elementary school

montgomery blair high school

richard montgomery high school

tilden middle school

walt whitman high school

watkins mill high school