Welcome to Shining Faces Facepainting & More!
When you hire us, you are getting twice the bang for your buck! Once for the bright SHINING FACES you are hiring us to create for your special event, and once again for the money that will go directly to support kids in dire need. More about that below.
My name is Manja Warner. I live in the beautiful Columbia Gorge, in Hood River, Oregon.
I started facepainting in 2000 for fun, mainly because I had a preschool back then and we wanted to get gussied up for the annual 4th of July parade, so I took out the watercolors (yikes!) and started painting happy little faces. And boy did they SHINE! The kids loved it, the parents appreciated the new and unique photo ops with their kids, and I had a blast doing it (I need creative outlets in my life. It's like oxygen - a must have.)
It took off from there. Within a couple of years of playing around with this (the kids couldn't get enough and I was happy to oblige), I turned to the internet for inspiration. That's when I discovered that there was a whole new world out there, just waiting to be tapped into. Professional face and body artists, professional skin-safe, non-toxic, cosmetic grade paints, glue, glitters, and BLING! WooHoo!!
In 2002 I got married and soon after closed the preschool to be a full-time, at-home mom and home school teacher to my daughter and grandson. This put a real crimp in my face painting outlet.
So, I began doing a few community events for some therapeutic fun. A couple years later, some friends of ours started an AIDS orphanage in Uganda, Africa (see LINKS in sidebar). They needed financial support to meet the kids most basic needs.
I had a whole new purpose for my developing face painting skills. I launched what was then named, Sonshining Faces and began raising money for the orphanage. For nearly 4 years, 100% of my proceeds went to the orphanage.
Then, just about the time it seemed that they were pretty stable and not needing as much support from us, along came Remember Nhu (see LINKS in sidebar). It is an organization based in The Phillipines that works with families in Cambodia and The Phillipines to rescue children that are headed into the sex slave trade market.
These folks do not buy children out of the sex trade - that only perpetuates the problem. You see, the perpetrators use the 'rescue' money that bought one child out of the sex slave business to purchase 3-4 others. One step forward, 3 steps backward. Not a good plan!
Remember Nhu targets families that are on the brink of selling a child for survival and go in and adopt the child from the family, place them in a loving home with others like themselves, provide for all thier needs, and eventually train them to earn an honest living in their communities.
So, this is one cause we are working to raise money for. They just recently started up a home for boys in Cambodia.
The other cause we are now raising money for is a local organization called The NEXT DOOR, Inc., Hood River, Oregon (see LINKS in sidebar). They work with families in domestic violence situations, offer parent classes and training, counseling, and other support and work with youth that are "in trouble".
These issues are all very near to my heart and I pray that you can appreciate the fact that at least for the year 2010 we are committed to donating 100% of our proceeds directly to these two worthy organizations.
REMEMBER NHU and The NEXT DOOR, Inc. thank you and so do I.
