Today we’d like to introduce you to Tom Napoli.
Tom, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My whole life, my family and friends have been great examples of love and charity and being raised and submerged in those elements has taught me how to appreciate the greatest gifts in life. Its always been a dream of mine to create a charity that focuses on helping people in need. The Free Art Foundation (TFAF) was formed in 2015 with the idea to help people in need through events dedicated to art, culture, and humanities. We help other charities raise money through fundraisers dedicated to the arts. We rely on donated space for events, donations for raffles and artwork to help raise money for our events. We are currently in process of creating a clothing line ie. T-shirts, hoodies, jackets, and hats to read ‘SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL CHARITY’ where we will market so the proceeds for any purchase can be designated to any charity, TFAF will not profit from any sales. This marketing effort will provide a medium for anyone to raise money for any charity.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It has been a very smooth road regardless of the ‘no’s’ because for every ‘yes,’ there’s a new friend with shared values wanting to help make a difference in this world.
Our only struggle is still needing a donated space for events, art classes, and a gallery to display art year-round. We want to run a facility were any event type can be held for any occasion. Art, culture, and humanities classes during the day and events at night. We hope to reach this goal.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with The Free Art Foundation – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
We focus on helping other charities raise money. We conduct research on charities we would like to support, we mostly focus on helping adults, kids, and families in need. We reach out to artists to help donate original or art prints where a portion of the proceeds goes back to the artist. We are most proud because we donate everything we receive due to TFAF not having any overhead.
We have supported Rady’s Childrens Hospital, Mamas Kitchen, and StandUp for Kids.
We are sponsored by Vans since the legend Steve Van Doren has graciously supported every event by donating gift certificates, clothing, shoes, skateboards and accessories.
We are unique because we are in the process of creating a clothing line, t-shirts, hoodies, hats, jackets showing: ‘SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL CHARITY’ where the proceeds from ANY purchase can be directed to ANY charity. This will create a platform for anyone to help raise money for any charity.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
We are planning for our next event in Feb 2020 to support Monarch Schools.
Ultimately, we want to run a facility were any event type can be held for any occasion. Art, culture, and humanities classes during the day and events at night. We hope to reach this goal.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thefreeartfoundation.org
- Email: [email protected]
Image Credit:
Sylvia Trinh Abraitis for the family pic
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