A friend in need

To all my friends in the art community, including fellow artists and art appreciators:

A fellow polymer clay guild member, Scott Garrette, has found himself and his family facing hard times.

Here is info from his latest blog post:

I need to get to New York and I need help! I'm listing all my Artwork at different price levels to accommodate a full range of financial assistance. My Etsy Shop

On Sept 4th,2007 we unexpectedly lost a Great man, Robert Giampia Sr. Father of my wife and her brothers, a loving Husband, Son-in-law, Brother, Brother-in-law, Uncle, Poppy to my children and my wife's nieces, Friend to many, God-father to many, and soo much more... Please send your thoughts and prayers to our/His family... (link to obituary here >> http://www.nyjnews.com/obits/Obit1.php?pid=2331732 )

My wife flew to New York the same day and is there with her family grieving and helping with all arrangements. I am in Kansas City, Missouri with our two young children (2.5 years and 5 years) and need to be there, at least for a while. My wife needs to be with her family for a while during these hard times and I need to be there with our kids to help her. There are more issues than grieving, but to retain family privacy all I can tell you is they could use all the help they can get.

It has been a difficult month for our family, as our 2.5 year old son
had brain surgery on Aug. 10th, to remove a large tumor. Everything
went well for our son, and the tumor was benign. He is our little miracle boy, alive and full of energy!

One good thing is that just before my son's surgery my wife's parents
came to visit from NY,NY. We had not seen them in about a year due to hardships. Then came the surprise surgery, and they came out again, totaling about 2
weeks in our home with us and our children. I feel really lucky to
have had that time with him... He was 59.

***Anything you can do to help will be greatly appreciated!!! Even if all you can do is tell someone of my needs***

I really can not afford to go, but I'm going anyway. I've already booked a flight for my kids and me for Monday Sept 10th. As bad as things can get, never give up hope... I'm not giving up, my hope is strong. Please tell anyone and everyone you can think of about our situation and direct them to my Etsy shop @ http://www.scottgarrette.etsy.com for details. I'm really hoping for a miracle here, and you can help!!!

In Memory of a Great Man, Robert L. Giampia. Sr. August 20, 1948 - September 4, 2007

We all know what it's like to be in need and reach out, and hopefully you too can help, either by purchasing one of his amazing works from his Etsy shop, or at least by spreading the word some more. He also makes amazing polymer clay jewelry, but I don't see too much of it listed in his shop - I don't know for sure, but I bet you could commission him to do something for you later on, after he has had time to take care of the most important obligations, his family.

Please forward this information on to anyone you know who might be able to help.
More of Scott's past work
A feature last month on Scott and wife Victoria on Polymer Clay Daily - read it, it's very interesting!
His wife, Victoria's Etsy shop

These are two great people who gave up their 9-5 jobs to fulfill their dreams of being artists and raising there children in a straw-bale house in Missouri!