Keiara (third from left) was selected by a group of “celebrity” judges as the winner of the Christmas card contest.
Her painting of what her dream home would look like at
Christmas will appear on the center’s annual holiday card.
Photo provided by Sulzbacher Center
K
ids at Jacksonville’s Sulzbacher Center painted pictures of their dream home in a holiday setting.
Snowmen, Christmas trees and reindeer were
paired with colorful houses with lit windows. Each
child painted something different yet similar.
For one of these kids, her dream of a home will soon come
true, and her painting of her dream home will grace the cover
of Sulzbacher’s annual fundraiser Christmas card.
“I just painted what came to mind,” said Keiara, the 16-yearold winner of the contest. “When you’re living here you don’t
see stuff like this.”
She and her family will soon be seeing their own house:
Keiara’s mom recently found a job at Fidelity, and they moved
out of the shelter and into a house in August.
Kieara’s dream house is blue, with wreaths on the doors and
a sunglass-clad snowman — this is Florida, after all — in a
snow-covered yard with a bright pink sky.
She made the background pink because it’s her favorite
color, but mostly because “it’s happy,” Keiara said.
Her painting was chosen from an original pool of 25 entries
by kids of all ages living at the shelter. That was narrowed down
to six, and hers was chosen by a group of “celebrity” judges,
including board members, donors and a local artist.
She was excited about winning the contest and knowing
that her picture will be on the cards and ornaments, she said,
but it means more that her mother and mentor could see her
do something great.
“It was a great honor.You don’t experience stuff like this
every day,” said the teen, who wants to pursue a career as a
criminal lawyer.“I made some people proud: my mom, Ms.
Maxine, my family.”
Maxine Engram is the children’s program manager at the
Sulzbacher Center and Keiara’s mentor.
Keiara’s design will be printed on the holiday cards and ornaments and sold to raise money for the center. The cards will
go on sale at Transformations, Sulzbacher’s major fundraiser, on
Sept. 18 and then will be available online at www.giveagoodnight.org.
The cards cost $15, which covers a night of shelter for someone staying at the center, said Allison Vega, public relations and
marketing manager at the Sulzbacher Center.
The funds raised at Transformations will also help the organization continue making improvements to its buildings and
expand its services.
A kitchen redesign is planned and scheduled to be completed in October, and a major renovation of the men’s dormitory
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