July 2, 2020

A 4-Year-Old, a 5-Year-Old, and a 7-Year-Old Are Now Very, Very Famous Artists

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Think back to when you were 4, 5, and 7. You were a renowned artist. Top talent. Your drawings won national contests and were prominently displayed on Times Square billboards. No? Don’t be shy: You were limitlessly artistic, so find it in your heart to applaud and retweet the news of 4-year-old Amarry London Alhassan, 5-year-old Xavier Garcia, and 7-year-old Kelli-Rose Simpson Forde. Their drawings were selected from more than 450 kids’ entries in a national campaign, “Honor Our Everyday Heroes,” to thank essential workers during the pandemic.

Kelli-Rose’s grandfather, a New York City transit worker, inspired her art: “Thank you for keeping us safe!” she drew. “Thank You SUPERHEROES” was Xavier’s appreciation for doctors and nurses, with special recognition of his aunt, a nurse’s assistant. Amarry, the 4-year-old, fashioned “a heart and a helping hand” to thank his mom, who works in the medical field. Their winning drawings also appear at Grand Central station and Port Authority. You may now retweet with #Recharge and send your own (or your kids’) drawings to recharge@motherjones.com if you’d like them featured in Recharge, which today wishes a happy birthday to J “The Microphone” W and Brooke “The Producer” M, artistic inspirations across mediums and media.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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