www.art4thehomeless.org

Art4TheHolidays isour really cool andawesomefundraiser thatwill benefitArt4TheHomeless, who willshare half ofwhat we maketo InvisiblePeople, a 501C 3Nonprofit that focuseson bringing the storiesof homeless individu-als to the forefront of

the public eyethrough video.

Art4THFounderJohnnaAbdulQader andnew boardmember,

Joanna Ballard aredonating hand madeart trading cards fordonations $5 or more.To donate go towww.art4thehomeless

Free hand paint-ed art cards withdonations of $5

toArt4TheHolidays

In This Issue

Awareness SpotlightPerforming Arts

Literary ArtsJoanna’s Corner

Huniie’s BitzThrifty Living

Art4TheHolidays

Awareness Spotlight

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul isan international, non-profit,charitable organization, which has arich history of service to the needyof our community. The BatonRouge Council was suggested byJoanna Ballard, one ofArt4TheHomeless’ newest boardmembers, as our feature for theAwareness Spotlight.

The Baton Rouge Council providesfood services, shelter and housing,distribution, uniforms for children,prescription services, disaster relief

and also collaborates with other or-ganizations to ensure that the home-less residents of Baton Rouge aretaken care of.

You can help by going to their web-site, giving or donating funds, time,food, clothes and even the occa-sional tweet or share online.

http://www.svdpbr.org/GiveNow.aspx

Society of St. Vincent de Paul Council of Baton Rouge

Feature Performing

Artist: You Wish

In an industry of listeners desiring music as an escape from reality, “YouWish” bursts onto the scene providing just that. ‘Wish, by the real name Ga-briel Mican, is a native of Bucharest, Romania and has been living in theUSA for over a decade. He classifies his style as Progressive House musicwith some Electro – all built around a love for a strong melody. His musichas a feel-good vibe that is captured in his track “Celebrate” co-produced byhouse music pioneer Vince Lawrence, which debuted as his first single oniTunes in August, 2013. A music video was also shot for “Celebrate” in col-laboration with motion graphics artist Scott Gordon of California.

Wish cites early 1990s Euro-dance as a big influence back when he lived inEurope. groups like The Prodigy and Faithless served as inspiration to be-come a music artist and producer himself. It was around that time that he gothis hands on a Casio keyboard, a gift from his father! He became instantly inlove with synthesizers! A passion which he shares with producer VinceLawrence whom he met in 2010. Acknowledged universally as the producerof the first House record “On and on” back in the late ‘80s, Lawrence sawright away the potential waiting to be explored in “You Wish”.

Having lived in different parts of Europe (Romania, Monaco and France) andnow in the U.S.A. Wish knows first-hand the impact that electronic dancemusic has on people. Its message is that of love, unity and respect. It’s thesound of hypnotic synthesizers and hard kicking drums that brings fans to-gether who share a common love for dance music. It is out of this love thathis music label “Wish Music” was born. He wanted to build something thatChicago, the city that started it all, would be proud of. “Celebrate” was thefirst release under the imprint, and in time the goal is to recruit new artists toshowcase the Mecca of dance music that Chicago truly is.

You Wish’s new single, “Free,” hits iTunes Dec. 17. “I wanted people to un-leash their inner rage, their passion, and just lose it on the dance floor. If youlisten to the song, it starts off tame and melodic but then it hits you with thedrop and all hell breaks loose. It’s unexpected, and I think that’s why peoplethat hear it love it. It’s about breaking your chains and setting your soulFree.”

You Wish

Poetry by Mark Husk

Oh. My. God.Will you look at that woman?I bet she hasn’twashed her hairsince the Kenne-dy’s were shot.Her face looks likeshe’s lived outsidemost of her life-smoked a lot, too.Bet that’s whereher money went.It sure didn’t gotoward herclothes.Faded, ragged plaid shirttorn, dirty jeans.Old work boots too, for Christ-sakes.Sweat and stale cigarettes,God—I can almost smell herfrom here.

So where did she come from?How does she live like that?Doesn’t she expect anything bet-ter?

Doesn’t she care about how shelooks?

Does she have a fami-ly?Parents? A husband?Children?Do they all live likethat?

In any case it’s easy toseeshe’s had a hard life.Harder perhaps, than Ican imagine.Yet here she is,

standing tall and straight, a sur-vivor,where perhaps others would havelaid down and died.And even nowshe holds her head up highand smiles--briefly--as she hands the cashierher hard earned, crumpledsmoky dollars.

I sit and bow my head in prayerbefore my Thanksgiving feastand reflect gently upon thosewho are less fortunate than I

On this day of gratitudeI find that I have somuchso many blessings inmy life,food, family, friendsand more

I hope and pray thatthose outsidein the cold tonight,can find for them-selvesthe blessings that I have here.

The feast is certainly wonderful.There’s turkey and stuffing,gravy and rolls and piemore than I could possibly eat.

But it only reminds me ofwhat really fills me up insideand brings to me a smilewhen my skies are dark and grey

The faces around my table,

I know them all, and love themdearlywith their light and life and lovewhat would I ever do without them?

There sits Charlie,gruff, rugged and strongA pillar of strength I cancling towhen times get hard.

Over there is Mikey,razor sharp wit and al-ways readywith a joke, a smile, andhis easy, good naturedlaugh.

And there is Susan,caring, comforting, and warmShe knows me best of all, andgreets me every evening with a hug.Where would I be without them?God only knows....

My silent prayer is interruptedby the scruffy mission workertelling me to eatbefore my dinner gets cold.

My poetry is not for ajovial crowdfilled with laughter andsong and cheer.

My poetry ismeant for amore seriouscrowdwho has seen the darkside of this wonderfulworldand felt doom's clutchesaround their heart.

My poetry is meant for amore cautious crowdwho seeks some mean-ing in life's constantmaddeningrise and precipitous fall.

My poetry is meant foryou perhaps,lonely, desperate, hun-

gry and lost,who waits pa-tiently and quiet-ly for a smallglimmer of hope.

All three poems are writ-ten by Mark Husk

Joanna’s Corner by Joanna

Ballard Louisiana Storyteller

Helping Others This Holiday Season

by Joanna Ballard

Hello again from thedeep American coldSouth in Louisiana. Hopeyou are staying warm inthis cold spell and keptthe homeless, friendsand family in mind, doingsimple things in waysonly YOU can!

I recently heard from afriend who gave a bunchof bananas to a hungryfamily outside a grocerystore, noticed the kidshungrily eating as theydrove off, saw anotherfriend stop and give aman with a "hungry willwork for food" somefresh veggies from hernewly bought groceries.

Another friend, Jim, alsowrote me how when hewas working as a cabdriver he always stoppedand helped folks withflashing lights on the sideof the road giving them afree push to the nearestgas station or jumpingthem off if needed.

Take a minute and emailme YOUR story this holi-day season of helpingsomeone or someonehelping you tovisionsofjoanna@gmail.com thanks! Stay warmblessed and HAVE FUN!

Huniie’s Bitz

by Hunniie Parker

Homeless with Children by Huniie Parker

Homelessness can be scary for us adults, and evenmore scary for children. Though I will have to ad-mit, when we were homeless, my 11 year old sonsometimes was a whole lot calmer than me. I evenremember one day walking back and forth, praying

about something and he looked at me and said“Mom, you worry too much”.

With that being said, I would like to first go overwhat is now considered homelessness. If you are

living or temporally staying with someone, you areNOT considered “homeless”. You are now consid-

ered to be “displaced”. In other words, a lot offunding has been cut to programs and they have to

reassign what homelessness is.

So, according to the new definition of homeless-ness, you must basically be in the street. Or, if you

are living or staying in someone’s home, haveproof from them that you have X amount of daysto be out. Or, you have to be living in a homelessshelter. Even living in a hotel is no longer consid-

ered to be homeless.Now, the reason I was talking about children, is

that if you find yourself homeless there are thingsyou can do to make it easier on any children thatyou may have. And it also makes it easier on youtoo. One thing I did is my son and I always had abook back we kept with us. In his book bag therewas always at least one change of clothes, two

changes of underwear, a light jacket, and I tried toinclude something comfortable to sleep in.

There was also, his personal items, you know, theusual, toothbrush, hair brush, etc. A book for himto read, a journal, pen/pencil, a word search book,small drawing book, special toy (extra small). Heeven had an old cell phone that had games on it.This was also good for if we were sitting some-where that had free wifi, he could also go online

and entertain himself. And I also included a $1 pair

of ear buds, that way if he was listening to some-thing he wouldn’t disturb someone else.

Now the last things I included was something toeat, drink, and something to clean them up with.Let’s face it; kids are always hungry, and thirsty.But how do we handle that and we’re homeless?

Good question, this is what I did. You can find wa-ter most anywhere. I took either a Gatorade or wa-ter bottle that had the top you didn’t have to take

off and drink.

Then I picked up a box or two of these packs youpour into your water. You can usually find the

packs for a $1 at a Dollar Store most anywhere. Asfar as food, I picked up (all for a $1 a package),packages of crackers, granola bars, peanuts etc.

Sometimes I even found apples marked down for 2in a package for a $1. Once you take them out of

the boxes they all fit in the book bag easier.

As far as keeping them clean, I always kept twothings. A wash rag in a Ziploc bag, and either babywipes, or towelettes. I always tried to keep some

Ziploc bags because they come in handy with a lotof things. Now, I know you’re wondering, how inthe world did I make all this stuff fit in a book

bag? Easy, I went to the thrift store and found onefor me that had many pockets in it. His was one

left over from school that had a lot of different de-partments in it.

One thing to remember, take things out of the box-es they come in and put it in a Ziploc bag. It’s somuch easier to deal with and makes much more

room.I hope no one reading this ever ends up homelessor having to camp out at a friend’s house, but ifyou do, I hope these tips will help out with kids.

http://www.huniie.yolasite.com

Thrifty Living by

Johnna Abdul Qader

Don’t Go To the Gym!

If you are homeless and on the streets orin a shelter with really bad bathing op-tions, then yes, going to the gym is a greatway to have bathing options–paying amonthly fee plus annual fee is totallyworth it, but for those of us who are on abudget and one pay check away from hav-ing to use that option, there are betterways to work out at home and free.

Exercise is key to a healthy lifestyle andmany people pay a lot of money for gymmemberships, but you don’t need a gymmembership to work out. All you need issome music and a space and you’re good.

So do you have those two items? Readyfor some great work out at home or on thego tips?

1. YouTube. YouTube has tons of athome cardio lessons, dance lessons, box-ing and kick boxing moves. If you don’thave access to a computer, go to a libraryand be sure to bring pen an paper so youcan write or draw the exercises.

2. Walking. Walking, all doctors aroundthe world would agree, is the best exercisefor you. Grab your headphones and iPodor mp3 player and walk around the blockor mall a few times.

3. Squats. Doing 50 squats a day willstrengthen your legs and make them looksexy too.

4. Tricep dips. Doing a tricep dip is likedoing a backwards pushup. Kinda. Sit onthe floor and put your hands palms flat onthe floor behind you. Lift your hips–nowdo 15 of these. Pretty soon that underarmflab will be gone.

5. Crunches. Crunches will work thoseabs and tone them up. Start by doing 10and gradually work your way up to asmany as you can every other day. Don’twant to pull an abdominal muscle–trustme it hurts.

6. Meditate. Yeah I know, meditating isnot an active exercise…or is it? Taking atleast five minutes a day to focus on yourgoals by clearing your mind and thinking,“I’m going to have a good workout to-day,” will do more than just give you arelaxing breather. Our thoughts create ourevents and environments. Do this beforeyou workout–to mentally amp up yourselfby training your mind to accept that youcan and will do it.