How we started

Twelve years ago I founded The Art Farm, a successful children's day camp in Bridgehampton, New York. It began with only three little children and has now grown to over 400 campers. From the very beginning I wanted to help less fortunate children.

In 1998 I started a very small Farmer's Market as a fundraiser and got the children involved baking cinnamon rolls, cookies, pies and brownies to sell. The first Farmer's Market made about $200. An agreement was made between me and the children that I would match and double the sales. The money was donated locally and within a few years we had raised a little over $32,000 for The Bridgehampton Childcare Center. In 2004 we donated $10,000 and bought two arks of animals for Heifer International.

When the Indian Ocean Tsunami occurred in 2004 I was extremely upset by the tragedy I was seeing on TV and decided I had do something to make a difference in the lives of the children. I contacted a client who is an international correspondent and she recommended contacting Rebuilding Sri Lanka, an organization based in London.

In 2005 I founded my charity, Mari's Children, and our first project was helping children who had been affected by the Tsumani. I traveled to Sri Lanka to work with Rebuilding Sri Lanka on the renovation of The Rohana School for the Blind and Deaf, an 80 year old school that had never been updated. Mari's Children also donated funds to the Children's Resource Center, an innovative program created by Rebuilding Sri Lanka. The CRC provides one to one counseling, art therapy as well as educational opportunities such as English and computer classes to children and families coping with the aftermath of the tsunami.