CHARITY INITIATIVE

#1: 2021 HOPEthiopia CALENDAR

For the past 9 years Painted Pony Energy has sponsored a HOPEthiopia charity calendar which has raised over $1,050,000 combined. However, since the company was recently sold, the former President & CEO Pat Ward, and his wife Michelle, have personally sponsored this calendar (once again, featuring my paintings). 100% of the donations go to Calgary based https://www.hopethiopia.com.

For a $40 (minimum) donation we gift you a calendar. To make a donation you can use PayPal through my website link: https://paulvanginkel.com/news.aspx, reply to this post or email [email protected]. Other payment options include cash, cheque, e-transfer, credit or debit card. We will also discuss pick up or delivery options.

#2: SILENT AUCTION FUNDRAISER

We are now selling my cover painting “Wild & Wondrous” through a social media silent auction. The market value for this 20X20” oil painting is $2500. To be a part of this fundraising auction, you can register a bid by: replying to this post or emailing [email protected]. Whenever I receive a new bid I will inform the previous highest bidder. The deadline to bid is midnight December 6th. I will contact the winner on December 7th.

NOTE: The highest bid so far is $2000. Please let me know if you would like to increase it ([email protected]).

Since “every picture tells a story”, the following is the story behind this portrait:

While in Ethiopia in 2009, HOPEthiopia co-founder Ralph Dubienski was asked by President Girma to hike into a remote location (15 kms away) and research a very holy Orthodox hot spring which had been a pilgrimage site for many centuries (it was starting to dry up due to intensive deforestation). Ralph and his son Kevin were the first foreigners to discover this unknown area. Ralph photographed this little girl while she was sitting at the outflow area of the Hot spring with her mom (they were washing their clothes in the warm water). President Girma loved Ralph’s photo as it reminded him of the purity and innocence of an Ethiopian child. Since that original encounter, Ralph has visited the hot spring many times with mission teams, however, he hasn't seen that girl again (who is now probably around 18 years old). We all wonder how her life has unfolded…

#3: LIMITED EDITION PRINT

“Wild & Wondrous” is available in paper print. $50 for a regular print (of 300) and $75 for an Artist Proof print (of 30.) 100% of donations go to HOPEthiopia. All the details are on my website link (please scroll to the bottom): https://paulvanginkel.com/vanginkel-prints.aspx