’Tis the season for WIAIH cards

The holidays are just around the corner and the annual greeting card fundraiser for the West Island Association for the Intellectually Handicapped (WIAIH) returns with nine local artists donating their works depicting winter wonderlands.

Two of the artists, Patsy Kelly and Dylan Turrin, are clients of WIAIH.

Kelly, who lives in Vaudreuil-sur-le-lac, said she paints at home with her mother, Diane, and her brother Michael, who is also special needs. “I wanted something very Christmassy and lively,” Kelly said of her painting depicting snowmen. “This is the first one I’ve done for the Christmas cards.”

Kelly added she and her family also do their part in trying to promote and sell the cards.

Volunteer Ida Morris, a Pointe Claire resident, has had a hand in the WIAIH card campaign for close to 25 years. “When we started, the only other groups raising funds (through holiday card sales) were UNICEF and the Montreal Children’s Hospital,” she recalled. “Now, there are so many charities out there.”

The card campaign is one of WIAIH’s three main annual fundraisers, the other two being the outdoor art exhibition at Stewart Hall in September and their June golf tournament. Kelly said she and her brother, who makes craftwork, have also set up displays at previous art show fundraisers.

Morris said the card campaign raised about $23,000 last year for programs for people with intellectual disabilities or autism, down about $3,000 from the previous year.

The cards are available in English, French or with a bilingual message or blank inside. Cards may be purchased individually for 85 cents each or by the hundreds for corporate orders. “We need some big corporate orders,” WIAIH’s Franca Kesic quipped.

Other cards have artwork donated by Bonnie Nichol, Patricia Morris, Martha Markowsky, Norma Bradley-Walker, William Chapman, Jacqueline-Lespérance and Mary Ellen Muelier Legault.

For more information, call 514-694-7090 or check www.wiaih.qc.ca. WIAIH is located at 111 Donegani Ave. in Pointe Claire. <@Cp>Chronicle, Albert Kramberger<@$p>