WILMINGTON, N.C. — Young, budding artists from across North Carolina are getting some publicity for their creative works while helping other kids in need. 

What You Need To Know

  • Kids are donating artwork to a virtual auction put on by Coastal Horizons

  • All proceeds from the auction support kids whose parents are in jail

  • The auction runs until June 4

Coastal Horizons provides intervention and support to children from families in North Carolina who have a parent behind bars. The auction is a way of teaching kids compassion and understanding and allowing them to lend a helping hand to people their own age. 

“The children absolutely love it. They get a lot of pride in seeing their work online,” Elizabeth Redenbaugh of Coastal Horizons said. “They're getting all this exposure, but it's a great life lesson on philanthropy and how to begin giving back to community and helping those in need.”

Redenbaugh said kids with one or both parents in jail are being overlooked, even though the consequences of a parent serving time are felt by the entire family. According to the Pew Research Center, one out of every 28 kids in the U.S. has an incarcerated parent.

“We're working to build resiliency within these children as well as in the event that there is this generational cycle of incarceration, we're working to break that and to eliminate that,” Redenbaugh said.

This is the second year of the auction and many kids like Joseph “JB” Brown are participating again this year. Brown discovered he loved art two years ago and combined his passion with the joy he finds in giving gifts to people. 

“What I like about people, when I give them a gift, is their smile and they say, 'Good job, JB' and I like feeling congratulated,” Brown said. “I smile because they're smiling.”

He estimates he's painted fifty pictures, but he's given the majority of them away in the hopes of bringing a smile to someone else's face. The auction gives him the chance to impact both the person receiving the art and the kids his own age who will benefit from his creativity. 

“I mean I get a lot of things. I have a TV in my room. I have three gaming systems, and I don't like that other people can't have that too, other kids that don't even have homes,” Brown said. 

Redenbaugh made it clear that every piece of artwork is welcome, saying you don't have to be a Picasso to get in on a good cause.

Last year's selection included sculptures, woven works, paintings and drawings and raised over $18,000. They're hoping to surpass that this year with a goal of $21,000.

“It really does help support that parent-child bond, which we all know is so important for every child just to grow up and be a success,” Redenbaugh said. 

The influx of art this year caused Coastal Horizons to push back the end of the auction. Art collectors or people simply looking to support the initiative now have until June 4 to place their bids on the auction's website. ​