FenCon XIII - September 23-25, 2016

Charity

We love to give.

Thanks to all the fen who, over the years, have helped us give more than $22,000 to several worthy causes. Our annual charity efforts, born out of necessity in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, now seek to help a North Texas organization that can effect positive change in our community.

FenCon's charity for 2016 is North Texas Food Bank, a top-ranked nonprofit hunger-relief organization. Each day, NTFB provides access to more than 170,000 meals for hungry children, seniors and families through a network of more than 1,000 programs and 200 Partner Agencies.

In fiscal year 2015, NTFB provided access to some 63 million meals but the need for hunger relief in North Texas today is much larger.

Find their details at http://web.ntfb.org/

Our charity efforts this year will include a limited edition signed and numbered art print by our Artist Guest of Honor, Kristina Carroll. The Thirteenth in the highly collectible FenCon charity print series, the printing costs of these works of art are paid by FenCon so your entire $10 donation for each print goes directly to the charity. We'll also have our annual charity auction on Saturday night, in conjunction with our art auction, plus a donation jar so you can give directly to this worthy cause.

FenCon Designated Charity Results:

2015: Our designated charity for FenCon XII was Earning by Learning of Dallas. Serving more than 100,000 children since its inception in 1996, Earning by Learning (EBL) is a nationwide literacy movement. Through its headquarters in Dallas and satellite centers in Richmond and Seattle, EBL provides reading incentives to children in grades K-6 in communities concerned with the academic success of their young people. Our charity auction and the limited-edition Mitch Bently cover print raised $2000 for EBL of Dallas.

2014: Our designated charity for FenCon XI was Children's Advocacy Center of Collin County. The Children's Advocacy Center "provides a friendly environment where children can safely tell their story and receive the support they need." They provide "safety, healing and justice" for children that have become victims of abuse or neglect.

2013: Our designated charity for FenCon X was the Autism Treatment Center. For the past 35 years, the ATC has assisted individuals with autism throughout their lives as they learn, play, work, and live in the community. Calls and referrals to ATC for autism services have increased significantly. ATC is working to increase the number of classrooms, therapy rooms, therapists, and group homes in the community to meet the needs of these individuals. Our charity auction and the limited-edition Charles Vess cover print raised more than $4,000 for this worthy cause.

2012: Our designated charity for FenCon IX was Literacy Instruction for Texas. LIFT's mission is "to enhance lives and strengthen communities by raising the adult literacy rate in Texas". One of the most widely respected adult literacy education programs in the United States, in the last year alone LIFT taught more than 8,000 illiterate and low literate adults to read English. Our charity auction and the limited-edition Donato Giancola cover print raised more than $3200 for LIFT.

2011: Our designated charity for FenCon VIII / DeepSouthCon 49 was Habitat for Humanity of South Collin County, Texas. This nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing ministry seeks to "eliminate poverty housing and homelessness from the world, and to make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action". Our charity auction and the limited-edition Vincent Di Fate cover print raised $2500 for this worthy cause.

2010: Our designated charity for FenCon VII was Carter BloodCare. Our charity auction and the limited-edition John Picacio cover print raised more than $1230 for this worthy cause. The blood drive also collected 40 units of blood Carter BloodCare is a not-for-profit organization that operates on behalf of patients and their loved ones in 56 Texas counties. Carter BloodCare is Texas' largest blood center, providing more than 330,000 units of lifesaving blood components for patients annually.

2009: Our designated charity for FenCon VI was the Genesis Women's Shelter. Our charity auction and the limited-edition Kurt Miller cover print raised more than $2500 for this worthy cause. Genesis Women's Shelter exists to provide quality safety and shelter to battered women and their children through crisis intervention and short term crisis therapeutics and to reduce the occurrence of violence against women and children in the greater Dallas area.

2008: Our designated charity for FenCon V was Reading & Radio Resource. Our charity auction and the limited-edition Real Musgrave cover print raised a total of $2130 for this worthy cause. Reading & Radio Resource is a non-profit 501(c)(3) volunteer agency, dedicated since 1969 to providing alternatives to reading for those who are visually or physically disabled and/or learning differenced.

2007: Our designated charity for FenCon IV was the North Texas Food Bank. Our charity auction and the limited-edition David Mattingly cover print raised a total of $2000 for this worthy cause. The North Texas Food Bank passionately pursues a hunger-free community. In 2006, the NTFB distributed 32 million pounds of food to 764 feeding and education programs in 13 North Texas counties, including after-school programs, residential treatment programs, food pantries, emergency shelters, soup kitchens, senior citizen centers and low-income daycare centers.

2006: Our designated charity for FenCon III was the American Diabetes Association. The total raised by our charity auction and our 2006 limited-edition Darrell K. Sweet cover art print was over $1400! Thank you for helping us honor the memory of Judith Ward with your generous support of this worthy cause.

2005: In the wake of Hurricane Katrina we announced that the designated charity of FenCon II would be the Salvation Army to aid their disaster relief efforts. The FenCon Charity Auction raised over $2800. Signed, limited-edition prints of our first two program book covers by Cat Conrad and Larry Dixon plus some cash donations raised nearly $700. That's a grand total of $3500! Wow. Thanks to all the fen for their generosity.