"Pay It Forward Challenge" dollars will go to scholarship fund for artists with mental illness.
New York, NY, November 2, 2006 -- Fountain Gallery, a not-for-profit cooperative located at 702 Ninth Avenue and representing artists living and working with mental illness, announced today that Gretchen Wiker, 34, an Upper West Side writer and tutor, will donate $1,000 given to her by Oprah Winfrey's "Pay It Forward Challenge" to the Gallery's Glenn Moosnick Scholarship Fund for Artists.
"The 300 studio audience members at the taping of Oprah's show last week were each given a $1,000 debit card and were asked to use it to make a difference in the life of one person or many," said Ms.Wiker. "We were also loaned DVD recorders to capture the stories of people we help, to be aired on a future show."
Ms. Winfrey told the audience during the taping of the show, which aired on October 30, "You're going to open your hearts, you're going to be really creative, and you're going to spend it all at once on one stranger or spend a dollar on every person. Imagine the love and kindness you can spread with $1,000." Known for her giveaways of cars, homes and other extravagant items, she described this as her "favorite giveaway ever."
Gretchen Wiker was accustomed to giving to various charities when she received the $1,000 stipend, but she wanted this donation to benefit an organization based in New York City. She emailed friends and colleagues for suggestions and was serendipitously placed in contact with Heather Moosnick, whose late brother Glenn had been an accomplished artist. Heather told Ms.Wiker of the oasis her brother had found at Fountain Gallery and its parent organization Fountain House, even as he battled severe and persistent mental illness until his death at age 35.
When Gretchen learned of the Glenn Moosnick Scholarship Fund for Artists, created in his honor to assist artists with mental illness by giving cash awards to be used for further education or to obtain costly supplies, she knew she had found a deserving recipient to make good use of the money.
Gretchen also had a hand in bringing an additional $1,000 into the Moosnick Fund coffers. She won the Oprah tickets in a school raffle last year (raffle ticket price: one dollar) and took a friend who lives in Chicago to the taping of the show, which is based in that city. Her friend generously added her allotted $1,000 to Gretchen's, bringing the total contribution to the Fund to $2,000.
"The generosity of Gretchen and her friend in donating this money to the Glenn Moosnick Scholarship Fund for Artists is overwhelming," said Heather Moosnick, 34, a Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs at MTV Networks. "An artist's life is fraught with challenges, and artists with mental illness have additional difficulties. Showcasing what the gifted artists of Fountain Gallery can do aids in breaking the stigma surrounding mental illness, and helping them to accomplish their goals is a meaningful tribute to my brother's memory. This gift will make a real difference in the lives of these artists."
Gretchen could have used her donation toward buying some of Glenn's art, since Fountain Gallery earmarks all proceeds from this artist's work for the Fund, but she had another idea: She decided to give the full cash amount to the Fund, and she will purchase original work by Glenn Moosnick out of her own pocket.
