All the things that truly matter: love, kindness, creativity, beauty, joy.
We are Pleased to Announce our 2017 Grant Recipients!
After the 2016 presidential election, the Kelly Ann Brown Foundation board wanted to honor Kelly and resist Trump. Kelly was a great political strategist, so entering the political arena through grants to nonprofits that advocate for justice and equality made sense. Trump and his presidency are the Shadow Side. Fear of the unknown, fear of others, the sick ideas of white supremacy, male supremacy, sexism, racism, nationalism, and hatred towards the LGBTQ community, to name a few, equals plenty of places to gift grants. Though motivated by the evil that has surfaced since the election, we want to be for things rather than against them. Apathy has no place. We have seen resistance rise up beginning with the Women’s March on January 21, 2017. We will ride the wave of positive energy for positive change. Let’s bring the shadow into the sunshine. As the late Father Bix used to say, “Peace, Love, Resistance!”
Doug Baldwin Jr.
Mother Jones Investigative Fund
During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act. --George Orwell
Mother Jones is independent journalism. Without independent journalism, corruption runs rampant. “Top Democrats Say Trump’s Justice Department Helped Undermine the Mueller Investigation,” “Chicken Farms Fueled a Massive Public Health Crisis—While the Government Turned a Blind Eye,” “A Federal Judge Put Hundreds of Immigrants Behind Bars While Her Husband Invested in Private Prisons,” “She Was a Rising Star at a Major University. Then a Lecherous Professor Made Her Life Hell,” are just a few of the important investigative pieces Mother Jones has recently published. The Kelly Ann Brown Foundation was proud to support Mother Jones because they work to “expose the powerful, reveal the truth, and shape the national debate with solid, unassailable reporting.” Click here for more information about Mother Jones and how you can help support their Investigative Fund. |
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Megan Mudge Memorial Scholarship Fund
“The human soul is hungry for beauty; we seek it everywhere—in landscape, music, art, clothes, furniture, gardening, companionship, love, religion, and in ourselves. When we experience the beautiful, there is a sense of homecoming.”
--John O'Donohue, poet, author, philosopher
--John O'Donohue, poet, author, philosopher
Megan Mudge
Board member Debra Hannula’s college friends, Kathy Coplen Mudge and John Mudge, lost their beautiful daughter Megan suddenly and unexpectedly on December 29, 2015 following a brief illness. She was 24 years old. Megan was an award-winning artist and a fun-loving free spirit. A piece Megan created in high school was chosen by former US Representative and now US Senator Dean Heller to hang in the US Capital for one year. Also while in high school, Megan painted two stunning murals that still adorn the walls at Reno High. After her death, her parents and brother Luke set up the Megan Mudge Memorial Scholarship Fund, an art scholarship at her alma mater, Reno High School.
Read more about Megan, and KABF's grant to her memorial fund.
Charlotte Maxwell Clinic
"You know what they call alternative medicine that's been proved to work? Medicine.”
--Tim Minchin (songwriter, director, comedian)
--Tim Minchin (songwriter, director, comedian)
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Charlotte Maxwell Clinic (CMC) has been serving women diagnosed with cancer in the Bay Area since 1991. With the help of their extensive professional health practitioner volunteers, CMC provides free health services like acupuncture, herbs, and massage therapy to compliment their patients’ Western medicine. Side effects of cancer treatment such as nausea and fatigue have found relief using alternative treatments, which as most of us are aware, health insurance doesn’t cover. Read more about Charlotte Maxwell and how CMC came to be. |
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Earthjustice
“It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.” -- Ansel Adams
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Earthjustice is the nation’s first and largest nonprofit environmental law organization. Born out of a lawsuit filed in 1965 by the Sierra Club to stop Walt Disney from creating a mega ski resort in the Sierra’s Mineral King valley, Earthjustice is committed to the promise of a healthy world for all. Earthjustice partners with numerous organizations to work pro bono on issues such as climate change, fracking, air pollution and Arctic oil drilling. One of their many pending cases is a suit to force the EPA to act on restricting formaldehyde, a chemical used in wood products and a known carcinogen. Their motto, “The Earth Needs a Good Lawyer” says it all. Click here for more info about Earthjustice. 
One of their latest innovative programs is an herbal spring break camp for girls ages 7-12, “to learn the magic, beauty and medicine of the plant world.”
Click here for more info about Vashon Wilderness Program. |
Father Roy Bourgeois
Father Roy
“You cannot reap what you have not sown. How are we going to reap love in our community, if we only sow hate?”
-- Archbishop Óscar Romero
KABF has supported Father Roy Bourgeois since our inception in 2011.
His annual protests that surround the issues of the School of the Americas (SOA)
are legendary. The SOA is a United States military training school located in
Fort Benning, GA where Father Roy lives.
Read more about Roy Bourgeois and his dedication to the SOA Watch.
Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP)
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"I have come to believe that when we work for peace, that’s when we really start living life deliberately, getting at the essence of things. I also believe that we cannot work for peace, especially today, without really looking at our country’s foreign policy through critical eyes, and asking, 'What is it doing to others, in other countries?'” --Father Roy Bourgeois Despite the fact that most American families were at one time immigrants, recent immigrants and refugees have become the focus of nonstop attack by many Americans and U.S. politicians. Vilifying one group, making someone the enemy to be targeted and vanquished, is the fear tactic of tyrants. Since the Trump campaign and presidency, hateful rhetoric and outright attacks have increased. Click here to read what NWIRP is doing about it. Legal Voice
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"I never doubted that equal rights was the right direction. Most reforms, most problems, are complicated. But to me there is nothing complicated about ordinary equality." --Alice Paul, American lawyer, activist, feminist
On March 6, 2018, the Seattle Times published an op-ed written by two women, Michele Frix and Ruchika Tulshyan, about five bills awaiting signature by Washington State Governor Jay Inslee. Per Frix and Tulshyan: “These landmark bills collectively will better the lives of women in our state by seeking to address two issues that disproportionately impact us: workplace sexual harassment and gun violence related to domestic violence and abuse.” They listed other groups, all headed by women, that advocated getting the legislation passed, including the nonprofit Legal Voice.
The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) has not always been welcoming to women. Since its formation in 1888 there have been only five women presidents. When current Washington State Supreme Court Justice Mary Fairhurst became WSBA president in 1997, there had been only one female president before her. Washington Women Lawyers grew out of a need to establish a legal association that would include women in leadership and mentoring roles. From there, women lawyers realized that a “women lawyers” association was not enough. They needed to establish a nonprofit that would seek justice and equality for all and that vision became Legal Voice.
Read more about Legal Voice.
Louisiana-Mississippi Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (LMHPCO)
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“Judgment and love are opposites. From one come all the sorrows of the world. But from the other comes the peace of God Himself.” -- A Course In Miracles Since 2014 Kelly Ann Brown Foundation has been honored to support the work of the Louisiana-Mississippi Hospice and Palliative Care Organization’s (LMHPCO) prison hospice program. December 11-15, 2017, LMHPCO sponsored the 2017 Caregiver Conference at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. Read our full write-up here. Color of Change
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“Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is in an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.” -- Frederick Douglass KABF board members found Color of Change through online petitions requesting signatures. Studying the issues that were being addressed led us to support Color of Change with a 2017 grant. With over a million members and counting, Color of Change is a force to be reckoned with. Click here to read about their important work and why they are a 2017 KABF grant recipient. |
The Nuns, The Priests, and The Bombs
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“I am very appreciative of your enduring support for this film which is raising consciousness on the nuclear weapons threat and creating positive ripple effects everywhere it is being screened. I believe Father William Bichsel would be thrilled to know that his life’s work continues to inspire people, especially young people.”
-- Director/Producer Helen Young Helen Young’s film, The Nuns, The Priests, and The Bombs, highlights the work of KABF’s beloved friend, the late Father William “Bix” Bichsel, and confirms the need to eliminate nuclear weapons immediately. Two hundred people attended the film’s screening at the United Nations last June, while, Ms. Young explains, “Negotiations were underway on a new treaty that prohibits the use or threat of the use of nuclear weapons.” Several days later the new Treaty was adopted. According to Ms. Young: “The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons will now undergo signature and ratification over the next two years.” Click here to read more about The Nuns, The Priests, and The Bombs, and why KABF was honored to give a grant to this project. Pictured: Cinematographer Bill McMillin and Producer/Director Helen Young Harmony Project
“If music be the food of love, play on.”
--William Shakespeare 
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Board member David Brown Steward was excited to learn about the nonprofit Harmony Project from his physician last fall: “It’s so Kelly—helping kids through music. Kell loved kids, the arts, it's a perfect fit! And what’s also amazing is that most of the kids in the program go on to college,” he said. The Harmony Project website has many sweet taglines: Give Music. Change Lives. It All Begins with Music. From Kindergarten Through College, We Keep Kids Safe, in School, and Inspired. Creativity. Teamwork. Confidence. We Commit to Children Through Their Entire Childhood. Margaret Martin, a mom, domestic violence survivor, and formerly homeless woman, founded Harmony Project in 2001. She saw music as a way to calm a brain traumatized by poverty, violence, and societal neglect. Their goal is big: To promote the healthy growth and development of children through the study, practice and performance of music; to build healthier communities by investing in the positive development of children through music; to develop children as musical ambassadors of peace, hope and understanding among people of diverse cultures, backgrounds and beliefs. Click here to read more about this incredible organization. |
Honolulu Biennial Foundation
"If I were called upon to define briefly the word art, I should call it the reproduction of what the senses perceive in nature, seen through the veil of the soul." -- Paul Cezanne
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The Kelly Ann Brown Foundation board gave a second grant in 2017 in support of the Honolulu Biennial Foundation, a not-for-profit, every-two-years-arts-festival with a focus on artists from Hawai’i and the Pacific Rim. Kelly studied art history in college, so we’re confident Kelly would approve. Upon receiving the second KABF grant, Honolulu Biennial Foundation Co-founder and Director Isabella Ellaheh Hughes was thrilled: “We want to thank you for your tremendous support of Honolulu Biennial 2017 and for believing in our vision to make this festival happen, as well as the lovely profile piece on us and my work. As you can tell by the over 97,000 visits, school groups served and 65 public programs that we offered over the course of the eight week biennial, it was a tremendous success!” KABF looks forward to Honolulu Biennial 2019! Click here for more information on HBF. |
Isabella Ellaheh Hughes
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El Centro de la Raza
Roberto said Yes to life; Yes to fun; Yes to everything good.
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“But the end is reconciliation; the end is redemption; the end is the creation of the beloved community. It is this type of spirit and this type of love that can transform opposers into friends. It is this type of understanding goodwill that will transform the deep gloom of the old age into the exuberant gladness of the new age. It is this love which will bring about miracles in the hearts of men.” -- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Plaza Roberto Maestas Beloved Community began providing 112 families with affordable homes on October 1, 2016. Located on the grounds of the award-winning nonprofit El Centro de la Raza in Beacon Hill, Seattle, the plaza represents the lifetime dream of the late Roberto Maestas and his wife Estela Ortega, two visionaries who saw a place that welcomed all people, all races. Read more about El Centro de la Raza, and why KABF was thrilled to support them with a second grant in 2017. |