Children's Art Project Moves Uptown!

This holiday season, the Children's Art Project at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center is moving on up - up to the project's first, full retail location in space generously made available by Uptown Park Shopping Center.

The Children's Art Project Boutique will bring the talent of M. D. Anderson's young patients to life in products ranging from the traditional holiday greeting cards to silk scarves and ties, sterling silver jewelry and holiday-themed t-shirts. The Children's Art Project also carries gift bags and tags, holiday stationery, note cubes, magnets and more. The project's entire Holiday 2000 collection, as well as many popular cards and products from past collections, will be offered at the new boutique.

As part of its commitment to the community, Uptown Park is underwriting all costs to build out the 855-square-foot space. This includes power, heating/ventilation/air conditioning, lighting, fixtures and signage. The grand opening of the Children's Art Project Boutique, along with initial advertising and promotional events, is also being sponsored by Uptown Park. A number of local companies have donated and contributed to the project to help make the boutique a reality.

"The merchants of Uptown Park are very interested in philanthropic activities," said Giorgio Borlenghi, president of Interfin Corp., the real estate development company that owns and operates Uptown Park. "As a result, we developed a campaign to address the needs of non-profit organizations this holiday season. The Children's Art Project at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center was at the top of our list as the perfect organization to partner with in this endeavor."

"The Children's Art Project is overwhelmed by the generosity of the Uptown Park management and merchants," said Shannan Murray, Children's Art Project director. "This store has gone from a dream to a reality in a very short period of time, and the opening of the boutique coincides perfectly with the beginning of our holiday season. We want to thank Interfin Corp. as well as the many charitable people who have helped to make the boutique possible. They all have gone the extra mile to help make life better for children with cancer," Murray said.

The Children's Art Project Boutique is located at 1141-00 Uptown Park Blvd. (corner of Post Oak Boulevard and Loop 610) between Walzel Jewelers and Bill Walker Clothier. Store hours of operation are Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Children's Art Project products also are available at many other retail locations in Houston, online at http://www.childrensart.org or by calling 1-800-231-1580.

Proceeds from sales at the boutique, like all project proceeds, will return to M. D. Anderson to fund patient-focused projects, such as in-hospital classrooms, college scholarships, summer camps and more. The project, now in its 27th year, has allocated more than $12.7 million to M. D. Anderson programs.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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