Valley Veteran Art Auction to raise funds for Robbie Dean Centre
On-line auction of artwork to be held from June 1-15, 2020
Veterans, most from the Ottawa Valley, are auctioning off their art to support the Robbie Dean Family Counselling Centre during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The auction will be held on Facebook from June 1 to 15, with the bidding closing at midnight on the last day. All proceeds from the sale will be given directly to the centre to help them as they provide about
1,500 appointments per year.
The centre is a community funded registered charity and doesn’t receive sustainable government funding. They depend on donations as well as fundraisers to help fill the gaps. Due to the pandemic, they have had to cancel or put on hold all their fundraisers.
“Emergency government support is coming in,” said Monique Yashinskie, Administrator and Founder of the Robbie Dean Centre, “but that is not sustainable. And so we have to look at the long picture to make sure our doors are open for a long time.”
The auction’s proceeds will help tremendously, particularly as once pandemic restrictions ease, there will be more people looking for mental health help.
According to a Canadian Mental Health Association study, about 55 per cent of people will require some counselling.
“There will be a huge sense of loss, depression and anxiety because people will be going back to a new normal and for some, the change will be very, very drastic,” said Yashinskie.
So any money raised from the auction, down to the penny, will be useful in providing help to the community.
Not only is the auction itself a great fundraising tool, but she hopes that more people with mental health difficulties will turn to art.
It has powerful healing properties, and many local veterans who have struggled with inner demons have found peace, or at least some variation of it, through creativity, confirmed Art Therapist Marillyn Saffery.
Not all of the pieces her clients have worked on will be for sale at the auction. Most are too personal or uncomfortable for the general public. However, a large number of artists were willing to share their talent for such a good cause.
“It all came from a desire to help from the veteran’s themselves,” said Saffery.
The type of art for sale will vary broadly.
Artist Derrick Nearing will be offering some of his kintsugi art pieces for sale. These are beautiful pieces of pottery that are shattered and then deliberately fixed using precious metals like gold.
Like many of the other pieces for sale, it is rife with meaning.
As a Physician Assistant and retired Petty Officer, he saw first-hand the horrors of war and human suffering, leaving a deep mental scar which developed into Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
He uses art to heal. Much like the kintsugi pieces that he creates, he was once broken but is now remade into something just as vital as the original.
Putting his work up for auction not only raises money but is a symbolic gesture.
“By letting this go, it actually validates that I am starting to move on and let go,” said Nearing.
“You can be broken into a thousand pieces, but you can be put together, and you still hold water, you still look like a cup except now you have all these experience lines over you,” he added. “People value experience and wisdom.”
He is helping organize the auction, and if you have something that you have made or know someone who may wish to donate, please send a message through Facebook to Valley Veteran Art Auction in Support of the Robbie Dean Centre or email Derrick at panearing@gmail.com.
