Those three months were undoubtedly the most life changing months in my life. I learned a great deal about love, compassion, heartache, and most of all, myself. Afterwards, I returned to the U.S. thinking only of ways that I could continue to help those children… or any children. So I took a job as a teacher’s assistant in a school for children with “emotional/behavioral disabilities”. After three years working with these children I had become a certified teacher and in my eyes, a “pretty tough cookie”.

With my heart always with children, my talents always in the arts, and my dreams always to see the world, I sought out a way to coalesce my multiple passions. That desire led me to create “Beyond Measure“, a non-profit organization aimed at helping orphaned children in developing countries. We collect artwork from artists in those countries, print them on shirts, sell the shirts in the USA, and return the money to orphanages. SIMPLE!

Well, maybe not so simple. The work we do requires a great amount of dedication and perseverance. You have to continuously believe that one person can make a difference, will make a difference, and at the very least, should always try to make a difference. Admittedly, sometimes it’s very difficult, but I have found the rewards to always make the struggle worthwhile.

Currently, I am in India, just finishing off month number two of my search for sign painters. I have been to about a dozen different cities in 5 different states. I am happy to report I am having good luck, meeting wonderful people, and getting some really unique artwork to put on the shirts. The objective is to come back with artwork that is not what you see in every Indian souvenir shop (certainly nothing stamped with a giant “Om”). Modern everyday India does not look like those images. I want to capture the real India-the bollywood, the super crowded, the over-done, the crazy colorful, and the sacred. I want people to see the India I see, and I want the Indian people to be the ones to show it. I could have done my own artwork and slapped it on some shirts, but then I would be going against what I know to be true in life: that we all can do something small and end up changing the world.