The Dalai Lama visits Ronald McDonald House at Stanford, 2010 / Greeted by Flag Project
flag Projects
Prayer flags / healing flags
During my chaplaincy residency at Lucille Packard Children's Hospital and Stanford Medical Center and as part of my program with The Chaplaincy Institute for the Arts and Interfaith Ministries I designed and implemented my first flag project.For a month flags were decorated by patients, families and medical care workers as a way to send positive thoughts and express concern for patients in the hospital. The result was a beautiful flag exhibit in the roof garden. The exhibit was open for anyone to come and visit. Not long after this project I started a project for a young child, Sophia who suffered from Nieman Pic type A, a very rare disease that would take her life at only 4 years old. Her family and community surrounded her and her parents with support and participated in making many flags that adorned her home and enhanced the environment with love and care. The flags became international when friends took them to places like Nepal and Bulgaria. The project, Prayer Flags for Sophia received the 2004 Blair Sadler International First Place Award for Participatory Arts from the Society for Arts in Healthcare. Other flag projects included two at Ronald McDonald House at Stanford, and others including projects commemorating a women's death due to breast cancer and the hope and promise of transplant recipients.
Making flags whether they are called prayer flags or healing flags provides a non threatening way to express concern about loved ones who are facing challenges. Anyone can participate to create a beautiful display.
The greatest honor was given to the second Ronald McDonald's Healing Flags exhibit in 2010 when it was part of the greeting for a visit from the Dalai Lama, pictured above, who gave individuals blessings to many at the House.
Making flags whether they are called prayer flags or healing flags provides a non threatening way to express concern about loved ones who are facing challenges. Anyone can participate to create a beautiful display.
The greatest honor was given to the second Ronald McDonald's Healing Flags exhibit in 2010 when it was part of the greeting for a visit from the Dalai Lama, pictured above, who gave individuals blessings to many at the House.
