I'm Bob Marotta, a long-time stained glass artist in Tampa, Florida. This GoFundMe is for a dear friend of mine, Florence Celcis, a Haitian-American artist who has lived in Haiti for the past 55 years. Her family home and studio were destroyed during the recent rioting. My goal is to procure the equipment and supplies needed for her to set up her studio again.

For the past 50+ years, Florence devoted herself to the art of stained glass, providing windows for 34 churches in Haiti and in Boston. Along the way, she has designed numerous panels for private homes and businesses and crafted a wide range of decorative pieces, including Christmas ornaments, boxes, lighthouses, crosses, candle holders, bookends, and much more. Her work has been showcased at artisan fairs across Haiti, the U.S., and Europe.

For the past few years, Haiti has been undergoing difficult political turmoil. In 2020, she had to abandon her professional studio located in an area that was taken over by gangs. All of her studio and stained-glass equipment had to be moved to her home in a 'peaceful residential area.' In a small space, she was able to continue working and made important windows for 3 churches, built on her dining room table. Little by little, the gangs gained ground, and again she had to abandon her home and studio and find refuge at her daughter's house. Then terrorists burned that home to the ground. We lost everything and, of course, all my stained-glass equipment, none of which is available in stores in Haiti.

This fundraiser is an effort to begin again. With your support, I hope to replace essential equipment and get back to creating. Any contribution, no matter the size, helps restore not just tools, but purpose, creativity, and hope.

Thank you for reading and sharing.

(To see more of my work, feel free to visit CELEX, Florence Celcis, on Facebook and Instagram).