Getty Owl Foundation

August SMA Awareness Month “Hoot the Grid and SMA Art Auction”

From Kate:

I wanted to thank everyone who has emailed us for a Tell 5 package. As of today, Wednesday there are over 60 people so far who will be receiving a package. Remember there is still time to get one. Just email us at hoot@gettyowl.org and I will get it in the mail asap.

So let me do a little math: 60 people x 5 people they tell = 300 new people who will know about SMA. Then if we want to take that a step further, those new 300 people just tell 1 individual and now we have 600 total people who know about SMA and then they tell 1 person, do you see how cool this is? I am so encouraged and so thankful to everyone already who has inquired to help. Fantastic!

First and foremost I would like to thank The Sacramento Bee’s, Niesha Lofing for covering our upcoming events. It is so nice to get some press in our local media, so thank you for being so kind and giving us some print.

We have two events happening on the same night, in the same place, and for the same reason to help END SMA. 🙂

Since August is National SMA Awareness Month, we wanted to find ways to educate the community about SMA. What we decided on is going to be so much fun for all who participate.

Getty Owl Foundation will host the 1st Annual “Hoot The Grid” SMA Awareness Walk along J Street during the 2nd Saturday ArtWalk on August 13th. For those that would like to participate in being a walker, you have a job to do. You didn’t think you were getting away that easily did you? 🙂 We ask that you wear our SMA Awareness t-shirt. It is a beautiful light blue shirt, that will hopefully grab the attention of others to the point where they ask you, “hey why are so many people  wearing those t-shirts ?”, and then you can respond as a true SMA warrior does, and educate that person and every other one that comes to you. Please don’t think you have to be an expert on SMA either. You will be provided with “What is SMA?” Fact cards that you can pass out as you move along J Street.

So what is this “Hoot the Grid” stuff. Okay here is the fun part. If you are a walker, your job is to educate and also have tons of fun. We have over 20 stores that have agreed to “House and Owl”. You will be given a map before your departure to find all 20 owls as you walk along J Street. Kind of like an Owl Scavenger Hunt. Once you find owl, you need to take a picture of you and the owl and then move on to the next store.

Once you get to your final destination at AJF Salon You will show all of your pictures to us and if you have all 20 owls, you will be in the running for a gift certificate basket full of gift cards from all the stores that sponsored the” Hoot the Grid” event. I can tell you now that we have a $50 gift certificate to Tapa’s, a few from Starbuck’s, one from Old Spaghetti Factory, and Lady Bug Lady Bug. And as the gift cards come in I will add to this list. This gift will be a doozie!

So having said all of that. Anyone can be a walker, it is open to the public, kids are welcome, you just need to email us (hoot@gettyowl.org) so we can get your t-shirt size. T-shirts are $5 a piece.

So the next part of the night gets even better. AJF Salon has opened their doors to host our SMA Art Auction. The Salon will be open to the public from 7-9pm the same night, August 13th. The theme of the night is “A Celebration of Life”. All the artwork shown that night are from SMA families around the United States. Mark and I have been blessed with meeting some incredible families that fight as hard as we do to care for our children, raise awareness, and help find a cure for SMA and I wanted to capture that. Our children, whether they are angels or warriors of SMA all are amazing and they shine in so many different ways. They are funny, they are captivating, they are the absolute joys of our lives. And perhaps in a small way, coming to the SMA Art Auction will give you glimpse of the love we have for them and how incredible they are.

Almost all of the art will be for sale. We will have a suggested price for each piece. You may purchase the pieces that night and take them home after the gallery is closed at 9pm.

Along with artwork from SMA families, there will also be awareness pieces at the gallery. I am not an artist by any stretch of the imagination, but I did try to illustrate extremely important statistics about SMA that I think all people need to know.

The art auction will be open from 7-9pm. There will be wine and appetizers as well as a silent auction. At 8pm that night, Getty Owl Foundation will accept a proclamation from the City Of Sacramento, declaring August as SMA Awareness Month. We couldn’t be more excited and humbled as a foundation to be given this opportunity. We would like to thank Councilmember Kevin McCarty for making this proclamation possible.

So if you are in the area and would like to participate as a walker, please email us. If you would like to come to the SMA Art Auction, we would love to see you from 7-9pm. If you would like to buy a piece of art, fantastic! All the proceeds will be going to our commitment to raising money for the Gene Therapy Program to help find a cure. Remember we are a 501(c)(3), so your purchases are tax-deductible.