MyCanvas - Nashville Predator's Featured Charities

MyCanvas – a program of Lutheran Services in Tennessee – has been chosen as one of the Nashville Predators’ featured charities for this season. Only four charities are granted this honor each year. As a featured charity, MyCanvas will receive extra support from the Predators, including recognition in team publications and a supply-and-fund-raising drive during the game on March 21.

MyCanvas offers art therapy camps to at-risk youth in Davidson and Rutherford Counties. The camps’ art therapists work to help youth develop their own identities and self-esteem, learn healthy coping skills, and build community resiliency.

We can probably best understand the impact of MyCanvas in the words of the kids themselves. When asked what he learned, one 8-year-old wrote: “I had to be patient but I didn’t want to be patient but I did.” Another child was asked, “Why build a community?” and he responded, “If you work by yourself, you’re gonna give up.” One eleven year-old artist said, “It’s not about right or wrong. We’re making progress.” The leaders of MyCanvas can share story after story of kids who come in feeling unconfident or resistant, but by the end of the camp they have learned to open up to their own creativity and to the community around them.

MyCanvas makes a great impact in the communities it touches, and it’s so exciting to see them receive this recognition from the Nashville Predators Foundation. To learn more about MyCanvas, you can visit their website: www.mycanvasarts.org.