LONE STAR FLAG COLLECTION

About the Fundraising Effort | Goal $36K

VNA serves the most vulnerable in the community. As we move through the COVID-19 pandemic, VNA continues to provide expert, compassionate care for seriously ill patients and deliver food and friendship to homebound neighbors in need. Through their program Meals on Wheels provides hot, nutritious, freshly prepared meals five days a week to Dallas County residents who can’t provide for themselves due to illness, advanced age, or disability. Following recommended guidelines for keeping their staff, volunteers, and clients safe during this outbreak, VNA has remained steadfast in its mission: to help people age with dignity and independence at home. For each $4,000 donated by the Christopher Martin Gallery, VNA will be able to take one person off of their waiting list. Each person taken off the waiting list will be provided with individual service, care, and meals for 27 months. Our goal is to sell each one of these unique 36 paintings, donating an initial $36,000 to this organization. 

These meals contribute to the overall health and well-being of participating seniors, including those with chronic illnesses that are affected by diets, such as diabetes and heart disease, and frail seniors who are homebound. Without VNA Meals on Wheels, these seniors would go hungry. 

About the Artist

Though his technique traces back to the 14th century, Christopher Martin’s approach to "Verre Églomisé" is entirely modern. A self-taught artist, Christopher coaxes layers of sheer pigment and water to achieve his vision ~ harnessing brushes, wind, heat, and gravity. Describing his technique, of painting in reverse on acrylic panels, Christopher says, "Every layer of paint has a high influence on the one behind it as opposed to a flat covering stroke. It’s often around thirty layers of paint that fuse together.”

In 2001 Christopher painted a “9/11 American Red Cross Flag” series as a response to the terrorist event in 9/11. President George Bush Sr. received a flag as a gift for receiving the Joseph Prize. In 2012, he celebrated the completion and installation of a 120-ft. painting aptly titled, "Velocity," consisting of 15 consecutive panels for the Formula One Racetrack, Circuit of the Americas, in Austin, Texas. Kidz Creations, a charity project launched in 2001 involves painting with hundreds of children over 13 years benefitting various hospitals, which will exceed the $500,000 benchmark in 2013. In 2018 Christopher raised $74,000 for the American Heart Association through the sale of his Hearts paintings.

The Visiting Nurse Association of Texas (VNA)

VNA’s mission is to help people age with dignity and independence at home. Established in 1934, VNA is a nonprofit organization that helps our elderly neighbors and loved ones maintain their independence by providing the services that allow them to age where they are happiest and most comfortable – at home.  Caring, listening, and responding to our patients' quality of life and comfort issues is what we have done for more than 80 years.

VNA is the community's most trusted provider of quality healthcare services in the home and is the oldest, most experienced Hospice Care provider in Texas.  VNA offers Meals on Wheels in Dallas County, and VNA Hospice in Collin, Cooke, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Grayson, Henderson, Hunt, Kaufman, Navarro, Rockwall, Tarrant, and Van Zandt counties.

About VNA Meals on Wheels

VNA’s passion for the hungry and homebound is unparalleled. Through their most well-known program – Meals on Wheels – VNA delivers nutritious, freshly-prepared hot meals to 4,000 Dallas County residents Monday through Friday. These individuals are the hidden hungry – they are homebound and unable to access resources like food banks and grocery stores.  With Texas having the 7th highest rate of hunger among seniors in the nation, it is easy to understand why supporting VNA is critical for our community.

VNA Meals on Wheels provides meals that contribute to the overall health and well-being of participating seniors, including those with chronic illnesses that are affected by diets, such as diabetes and heart disease, and frail seniors who are homebound. Without VNA Meals on Wheels, these seniors would go hungry. 

Currently, more than 2,500 qualifying seniors have requested meals but are not being served due to a lack of funding and volunteer support.  Sadly, based on current statistics, we can only expect this number to grow. That means VNA must grow too – just as we have been doing for decades.

Over the past forty years, VNA Meals on Wheels has expanded with the needs around us – from serving 125 meals a day in 1973 to more than 4,000 today. With an understanding that needs would continue to grow, we built VNA Haggerty Kitchen with the capacity to prepare 12,000 meals daily.