Creating for a Cause

Products to benefit:

Watercolor painting by Jo Myers-Walker showing woman on porch looking over scenic backyard with deer

“Porch,” one of the Family and Friends card designs, shows a peaceful scene of communing with nature

  • The ALS Association Iowa Chapter
    See my blog post Cards to help fight ALS for information on “Family and Friends: Cards to support The ALS Association Iowa Chapter,” a set of notecards to raise money for the Association’s services and research programs. The cards and the pouch they’re bundled in have images from my watercolor paintings showing scenes from the daily lives of people using wheelchairs.
       
  • Clubfoot Solutions
    A watercolor illustration by artist Jo Myers-Walker from the book Lucky's Feet, showing people traveling on the road to a city on foot and by auto

       
    An illustration from the book “Lucky’s Feet”

    My blog posts Lucky’s Feet and Thankful tell about the Ponseti Method of non-surgical treatment of clubfoot, which the non-profit Clubfoot Solutions helps bring to children everywhere. The book “Lucky’s Feet” (featuring my illustrations!) is based on the story of a boy whose life was changed by the treatment, and you can buy it from the Shop on their website. 100% of profits from the sale of this book go to Clubfoot Solutions.

  • Dorothy’s House
    Watercolor painting by artist Jo Myers-Walker with two women flying kites along the Des Moines area waterfront featuring the word "Hope" on one of the kites

    One of the designs for cards
    to benefit Dorothy’s House

    My blog post Cards to benefit Dorothy’s House tells about this set of four notecards with Des Moines-area scenes featuring words that exemplify the mission of Dorothy’s House, “”a safe place for survivors of human trafficking, exploitation and prostitution to discover their healing journeys through the practice of life.”

    At right, one of the paintings used for the cards features the word “Hope” in this scene of flying kites along the riverfront.

  • Lila Mae’s House

    I developed two special sets of notecards (details below on this page) featuring images from my artwork, to promote awareness and to raise money for organizations working against human trafficking (link is to information from the National Human Trafficking Hotline).

    Proceeds from the sale of these cards currently go to Lila Mae’s House, a project started by Franciscan Sister Shirley Fineran with the goal of creating a “place of healing” for trafficking survivors. Contact me (email jomyerswalker@gmail.com) if you’re interested in ordering!

    More information:

Notecards to benefit Lila Mae’s House

Page showing designs of Canticle of Creation notecards featuring details of sculpture by artist Jo Myers-Walker

Canticle of Creation
card designs and messages
(click image to view larger;
PDF, approx. 652 KB, rev. 09 Jan 2024)

Page showing designs of Abundant Homes notecards featuring watercolor paintings by artist Jo Myers-Walker

Abundant Homes
card designs and messages
(click image to view larger;
PDF, approx. 682 KB, rev. 09 Jan 2024)

Notecards with envelopes, bundled in a hand-painted pouch (pouches painted by me or by my able assistants!). Each card has a message on the back for contemplation and is blank inside for your writing. Contact me (email jomyerswalker@gmail.com) if you’re interested in ordering!

  • Canticle of Creation, set of 8 notecards:  Each card highlights a symbol from the three-dimensional Canticle of Creation acrylic sculpture I made in 2017 for the Sisters of St. Francis in Dubuque (inspired by St. Francis’s well-known Canticle and the stories told of his life). Bundled in a pouch representing the Portiuncula chapel restored by St. Francis.
    • See:  Cards for contemplation (blog post)
       
  • Abundant Homes, set of 9 notecards:  Each card has an image from one of my watercolor paintings on the front. Bundled in a house-shaped pouch.
    • See:  An abundance of notecards (blog post)
Greeting card with photo of Canticle of Creation sculpture by Jo Myers-Walker

Sample Canticle of Creation notecard
opened flat to show front and back
(click image to view larger)

Sample Abundant Homes notecard back and front, with watercolor design by Jo Myers-Walker

Sample back and front of an
Abundant Homes notecard
(click image to view larger)

Proceeds from the sale of these cards currently go to the Lila Mae’s House project with the goal of creating a “place of healing” for trafficking survivors. Contact me (email jomyerswalker@gmail.com) if you’re interested in the card sets.

Examples of house-shaped pouches made from watercolor paper and decorated by painting and stamping

Examples of decorated pouches holding Canticle of
Creation (left) and Abundant Homes (right) notecards.
Decoration styles vary and each pouch is unique.

back to top

How I got involved

Franciscans strive to live out the social justice values of the dignity of all people, care of creation, peace and justice. Through my involvement as a Franciscan Associate and with other organizations concerned with social justice, I have been learning about the growing problem of human trafficking. According to the National Human Trafficking Hotline,

    “Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery. This crime occurs when a trafficker uses force, fraud or coercion to control another person for the purpose of engaging in commercial sex acts or soliciting labor or services against his/her will.”

I felt moved to find ways to work against this injustice, and created special sets of notecards featuring images from my artwork to promote awareness and to raise money for organizations working against human trafficking.

Proceeds from the sale of these card sets (“Canticle of Creation” and “Abundant Homes”) currently go to Lila Mae’s House, a project started by Franciscan Sister Shirley Fineran with the goal of creating a “place of healing” for trafficking survivors.

back to top