Celebrating a Marvelous Monday recognizing Breanna's Gift

Six years ago, we partnered with Breanna's Gift – a fellow non-profit organization whose mission it is to bring smiles to the faces of children with cancer and other serious illnesses through the magic of the arts. The organization is named after Breanna – a little girl who loved to dance. In her honor, Breanna’s Gift brings the healing power of art to children battling critical illnesses. On Friday afternoons, teachers from this wonderful organization come to the House to offer dance and art classes. They provide the materials for the classes as well as tap shoes for each child to keep. The classes are open to all the children at the House – including patients and their siblings. At dance class, the students learn tap steps, practice movement exercises, and even learn exciting styles like Flamenco dancing. It’s something to see! The kids learn the steps as well as how to put it all together to create dance. After several weeks, the families and staff are treated to a dance recital.. It’s a boost for siblings to shine and recognized, and for patients to regain strength and feel the success of normal activities…the work of childhood. All of this is gained from the gift of a dance class.


Breanna's Gift brings dance and art to the House! 

Onto the art. Breanna’s Gift provides projects that vary from learning to create animals in pastel crayons, saori weaving, origami rockets and animals, or creating mini-books. Like dance, art classes are a special time for students to feel success, the delight of one-on-one attention, the pride of learning a new skill, and the joy of creating. In addition to the weekly classes, Breanna's Gift provides workshops, which are 3-5 days long, both during the school year and over the summer months. The workshops provide a unique opportunity for kids. It’s an intensive time to create and work together.

 

Founder and Executive Director, Masha Ovitz, shares her thoughts about all the gifts this program brings to the students – particularly the workshops. “Since 2007, we have been privileged to bring our dance, art classes and workshops to the Ronald McDonald House kids and their families. From the beginning, each opportunity to work with kids has been special. Some of our most memorable projects have been when everyone has come together for our special workshops. The first of these Breanna's Gift projects was a mosaic workshop led by artist, Lori Greene. The children and their families worked to create a Tree of Life piece in honor of the Ronald McDonald House's 30th anniversary in the Twin Cities community. Because it is on permanent display, everyone can stop, look, enjoy and remember. Drama camps with our guest artist, Annie McNaughton, have the children making their own costumes and scenery and performing portions of plays such as The Sound of Music and Annie. We tried getting Jerry to join us, but he was not interested in the applause or the encores! Margo McCreary's annual puppet workshops where the puppets are created and come to life in their own puppet theater are so much fun. The story lines the children develop are always a surprise. No one knows where they will take us, but it's about the journey, right? Thank you, Ronald McDonald House! The energy, the joy and the smiles are the gifts that we take with us. It's such an honor to work with the children, their families and the staff.”

How amazing is that?! Dance and art offer so much to RMH kids. Thank you for your partnership, Breanna's gift! Thank you for this priceless gift. To learn more about Breanna's Gift, visit www.breannasgift.org.