The Unsteady Hand

www.theunsteadyhand.org As of Aug1, 2018, The Unsteady Hand has 501(c)(3) status... write off your donation! The artistic process and building  community are my passions! Parkinson's Disease is my reality.   Hello, and thank you for taking the time to look into funding  The Unsteady Hand-an artist collective.  Every little bit helps... $5 isn't too little, $1000 isn't too much!    -- The Unsteady Hand promotes improved function and positivity through communal artistic engagement in the lives of those living with Parkinson’s disease. -- We provide quality fine art supplies (acrylics, oils, pastels, archival paper, copious other items) and small group guidance to help increase fine motor skills, develop creativity and, perhaps most importantly,  provide an intentional  community culture of fluid and dynamic imagination. Our goal is to reach 200 people with Parkinson's and their care-partners on a monthly basis in Colorado Springs and the surrounding area with in the 1st year .  We have now incorporated  , and thanks to "Lawyer Steve", our 501(c)(3) designation is DONE . Our Board of Directors is currently being assembled. We have a Physical Therapist, Emily M, who works specifically with people who are diagnosed with Parkinson's.  We have a gallery sponsor, Amanda S, who is providing space for our Creativity Labs, a significant discount on art supplies.   We also have an Art Therapist with an MFA, Cathleen M, ready and willing to facilitate labs. And new to the board is Steve P, a fellow Parkinson's Peep and all around good guy who also happens to hold an MBA! Four positions down, one to fill.  That said, we could use some help setting up  funds for art supplies, aprons, marketing materials, and to procure our own space so that we can best support our local Parkinson's community.  In our initial campaign, because of some wonderful people we met our goal of $1500, for that we are eternally grateful.  Since that time, we have set or sights higher... looking not only into moving into our own space, but also to extend our reach from Colorado Springs into Denver, Pueblo, Monument and Ft Collins. We hope to 'canvas' the entire front range.  In addition, The Unsteady hand would like to have the ability to pay artists for their time and expertise. So far, with the funds raised, we have been a able to purchase The Unsteady Hand marketing materials, business cards,  brochures, an HD projector, our articles of incorporation, 501(c)(3) fees, and the domain www.theunsteadyhand.org. If you have any questions please feel free to contact us: Mo@TheUnsteadyHand.org A little back story... I guess it starts 5 months ago with my diagnosis of Parkinson's disease on Friday, April 13th... and yes that was a Friday the 13th!   It hit me like a load of bricks. Well, actually, it didn’t. I wasn’t surprised at all. It wasn’t a shock, honesty, totally expected. Between years of symptoms and good old Dr. Google, I pretty much had this figured out before I saw a neurologist. So what to do with the diagnosis then…lay back, get sick, rollover…nah ,  I was instead energized. Within two weeks of my diagnosis, I had attended four support groups, joined seven Facebook PD groups, started a blog with my wife Tami, and bought a treadmill which I'm on way too little. I figured if I’m going "down", I’m going down “all in.”   The social engagement I have on Facebook with my fellow "parkinsonians"  is mostly with people who are worse off than me, typically a lot worse. And among those peeps, there’s a lot of chatter about Rocksteady Boxing. I looked up rocksteady boxing in Colorado Springs and found two gyms, both over 70 miles away. That does me no good. What to do? I’ll tell you, you start your own gym. Backtrack two weeks to a support group where I met Emily the PT ( yes one in the same that is on our or board).  Emily had big plans for a group for people newly diagnosed with Parkinson's and wanted to meet to discuss. I had big plans for a new gym. So, we got together and chat. During our discussion over coffee, Emily informed me there are multiple boxing classes, and big and loud classes, and power classes, and delay the disease classes, and cycling classes, soon to be water aerobics classes... you get the picture, lots of exercise programs. On top of that, they’re all paid for by a local support group and free for participants. Rocksteady boxing gym idea down the tubes. But Emily says, "Art" is what we really need for our PD community. And that my friends is where we are standing right now. The heavy lifting is about to begin. Programming, raising some serious corporate funds (as side note, just  about 80% of all funding for non-profits come from small and large private donors and only 20% comes from 'corporate donations'... just a fun fact to let you know how important your donations are) and finding a couple more amazing volunteers. I have micro plans for operations in Colorado Springs and surrounding areas, but macro plans of spreading like wildfire nationally. A pipe dream perhaps, but I'm 'all in'. We got this. Thank you, Mo Onstad Diagnosed Parkinson's 4/13/18