Photos courtesy of Precious Lamb.
Benefactors and community members helped raise over $50,000 Friday, May 12 for Precious Lamb Preschool during its 4th annual art show and auction at The Modern, near the Long Beach Airport, officials announced Thursday.
Precious Lamb Preschool is privately funded and offers early childhood education to homeless children in Long Beach.
Friday night’s art show featured portraits of Precious Lamb’s students, painted by students from Millikan High School and Biola University. The artists spent hours studying portrait painting and weeks observing the children in the classroom.
Almost every piece of artwork was sold.
“In our fourth year collaborating with Millikan (and second with Biola) this fundraiser has grown to become quite the go-to event in the community,” Lailanie Jones, executive director of Precious Lamb, said in a statement. “It continues to sell out, and this year we raised the most money ever! I think it’s the special collaborative effort; the symbiotic benefit for both our school and the students as they understand service learning.”
The money raised during last Friday’s art show will help fund opening another classroom in the fall, in addition to other essentials needed to cope with the growing demand for services.
In addition to selling the paintings, the event featured a raffle and auction.
“This is a very important fundraiser for our school,” Jones said. “The money raised makes a big impact, as 80 percent of every dollar goes directly into the classrooms. It is neat to celebrate the students and the value of their work, and extra rewarding that most of the art is actually donated back to our parents who could never afford a commissioned portrait of their child. This is a keepsake they’ll forever treasure.”
Precious Lamb Preschool has served over 400 families since opening in 2002 and is supported entirely by private donations.