WA incarcerated artists raise $12,000 for YWCA by creating pieces for auction
Oct 8, 2020, 2:50 PM
The 2020 Combined Fund Drive, an annual effort by state employees to raise money for charity from October through the end of December, has just kicked off. And with that comes good news — in an auction earlier this year that was part of last year’s CFD, a group of incarcerated artists raised more than $12,000 for local YWCA programs.
It was the second year that the incarcerated individuals from several prisons and one juvenile detention center around the state raised money by selling their own artwork at an auction.
Kimberly Beckham, a re-entry navigator with the Department of Corrections, said that the incarcerated artists came up with the idea two years ago to raise money for hurricane relief after watching hurricane devastation on the news.
This past year, about 200 incarcerated artists created paintings, carvings, jewelry, and even a scale model of the U.S.S. Arizona made out of recycled materials. These were sold at the 2020 Unguarded: Incarcerated Auction at the LeMay Car Museum in Tacoma just before the pandemic started.
Beckham said the artists chose the local YWCA chapters because of the charity’s work with domestic violence survivors and people experiencing homelessness. Many of them have been directly impacted by the YWCA in their own lives.
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“They chose the YWCA for the compassion that some of them personally have felt from the YWCA … it was pretty heartfelt because a lot of the incarcerated also have experienced a lot of trauma in their lives, too,” Beckham said.
She said creating the artwork helped the inmates through the holiday season last year, typically a tough time of year to be in prison.
“It kept their spirits up, it kept them busy … they had something to look forward to, they were giving something, they were creating something,” Beckham said.
Beckham said there are many misconceptions about people who are behind bars. As a re-entry navigator who helps inmates transition back to life in society, she said that she has experienced firsthand how projects like the art auction help them to re-enter life outside prison and have a fresh start.
“People did break the law, and they were given a sentence, but they really are people who are just like your neighbors,” she said. “They are sons and daughters and fathers and mothers, and they made a mistake. Programs like this really allow some healing to take place.”
DOC employees contributed more than 188,000 to charities through the Combined Fund Drive in 2019.
