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Blue Ribbon-Heart Gallery Celebration
2010 Event         Download the Official Flyer The Blue Ribbon campaign started in 1989 as a symbol of child abuse awareness.  A concerned grandmother, Bonnie Finney took a stand against child abuse after experiencing the death of her young grandson.  She tied a symbolic blue ribbon to her van as a signal to her community of her personal commitment to involve everyone in the battle to stop child abuse.  Why the color blue?  In her own words, "I never intend to forget the battered, bruised bodies of my grandchildren.  Bruises are black, then eventually turn blue.  Therefore, blue serves as a constant reminder to me to fight for our children."1

The Blue Ribbon-Heart Gallery event is an annual campaign to honor all of the courageous children in the foster care system in Pima County, as well as the foster & adoptive families who love them.                                                                                                     Share

2009 Event
2008 Event

2010 Blue Ribbon-Heart Gallery Celebration

The Third Annual Blue Ribbon-Heart Gallery Celebration will take place on Saturday, May 1, 2010 at Thoroughbred Nissan located at 5163 E 22nd St., Tucson, AZ 85711. This is a free family fun event with food, fun, games, special guests, a raffle and jumping castle, and life-size portraits of children awaiting adoption. Please join us for this very special event!                                                                                                                                              Share

2009 Blue Ribbon-Heart Gallery Celebration

Read news articles about the 2009 celebration:

Faces of Foster Care

Picturing Getting Adopted

2008 Blue Ribbon-Heart Gallery Celebration

May is National Foster Care Awareness Month. On May 31, 2008, Arizona Heart Gallery, the Foster and Adoptive Council of Tucson and other agencies city-wide participated in the largest collaborative, community outreach event. The purpose of this event was to show appreciation for children in foster care and the families who care for them, and to reach adoptive and prospective adoptive families for the children awaiting adoption in Arizona.

Foster & adoptive families gathered to enjoy the food, games, jumping castles, a raffle and much more. Prospective adoptive families joined with public to view over 50 life-size photos of children awaiting adoption in the state of Arizona.

Speakers at this event included: Mayor Bob Walkup, Congressman Raul Grijalva (U.S. Representative), Honorable Judge Joan Wagener (Juvenile Courts), John & Rachel Lohrman (Adoptive Parents) and Lupe Tovar & Serina (In My Shoes).

A Balloon Tribute of 2500 yellow balloons with blue ribbons were released into the sky. Each balloon represented a child from Pima County in out-of-home care (foster care, shelters or group homes).

Special thanks to Soledad Zuzuárregui for representing Governor Napolitano's office, everyone at Thoroughbred Nissan for hosting this event, and to everyone who gave of their time and efforts to make this event possible and successful. Funding was provided through recruitment efforts paid for by the Department of Economic Security.

Thank you to the following businesses and organizations for your collaboration and contributions to this event:
Foster & Adoptive
Council of Tucson
1 http://www.yuma.usmc-mccs.org/Webmodel/MFS/counseling_support/CounselingSupport.html
2. Blue Ribbon-Heart Gallery 2009 Flyer

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The goal of the Arizona Heart Gallery is to take professional, heart-reaching portraits of our state's most vulnerable children in foster care and promote finding forever homes for them. Arizona Heart Gallery is an all-volunteer organization.

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