CERF Fund-raiser Raises Awareness of Artists’ Needs

or the past five years, Karen Hohler, president of Whippoorwill Crafts in Boston, Mass., has participated in the Craft Emergency Relief Fund’s (CERF) annual month-long fund-raiser. This September, which marks the seventh year of A Month for CERF, Hohler hopes to make an even larger contribution. “[To raise money for CERF] we’ve run a silent auction for five years,” says Hohler. “For two weeks in September, we give over our display windows and fill them with work donated by the artisans we represent in the store.” This year, Hohler says she’s considering doing a raffle as well.

Twigs & Leaves gallery is one of the participants in this year’s A Month for CERF.

For craftspeople around the country, CERF provides much-needed recovery assistance when career-threatening disaster strikes. Through no-interest loans, grants, waived booth fees, and supply discounts, CERF has helped hundreds of artists recover from fire, theft, and other business-related catastrophes.

“ A Month for CERF 2002 raised just over $36,000, setting a new fund-raising record for this nationwide event,” says Jeanne Kirby, special events coordinator for CERF. “We’d be thrilled to do just as well this year, given the current economy.”

So far this year, Kirby says that CERF has provided over $53,000 in grants, loans and donated/discounted services to 22 artists and two crafts-related organizations. Since its beginning in 1987, CERF has helped over 300 craftspeople, including a very grateful pair from Alabama who nearly lost their woodworking studio due to hurricane damage. “A hurricane blew a very large pecan tree over on top of our new studio,” says artist Joyce McAdams. “It completely crushed the roof and we lost inventory and production time just before the [Buyers Market of American Craft].”

CERF granted McAdams and her partner, David Robinson, $2,000 and arranged for their booth fee at BMAC to be refunded. “The CERF people were very helpful and responded quickly so we could get up and running again. This safety net is made possible only by all of us in the craft community pooling what resources we have for the good of the whole crafts community.”

“ [CERF’s] dedication has kept many artists from disappearing and [not] sharing their skills and talent with us,” says Cheryl Hogan of Original Accents in Grand Junction, Colo. Hogan’s gallery has been participating in A Month for CERF for three years and raises money for the organization through $5 raffles at her gallery. “Most of [our] local artists donate a wonderful piece to raffle….,” says Hogan. “Last year we had 25 pieces of all kinds of media donated. And there were 25 happy winners.”

David Erickson of Twigs & Leaves in Waynesville, N.C., says he plans to repeat his efforts from last year — the first year he participated in the fund-raiser — by donating a percentage of Internet sales for September, half the proceeds from a sales table for a week, and a percentage of gallery sales on a particular Saturday. In addition, he may add a voluntary admission charge to his gallery with a sign indicating the cause for which he is raising funds. “We are firm believers in [CERF], says Erickson. “Who knows when, God forbid, you could be next to need assistance?”

Heather Skelly is associate editor of The Crafts Report.