Local Artists Hold Fundraiser for Haiti

A group of Louisville artists will have a silent auction at a local gallery tomorrow to raise money to send medical equipment to Haiti. WFPL’s Elizabeth Kramer has more.The artists are part of Burners Without Borders, a relief group that grew out of people who attend Burning Man, a festival in Idaho that focuses on self-reliance and creativity.The organization formed to first volunteer to help victims of Hurricane Katrina and it’s since grown to include projects across the country and overseas.Now, local members of the group — including Karine Maynard — are trying to raise money to fuel a plane the organization is using to fly donated medical supplies from Florida to Haiti."It costs $1,000 for a plane to go from Fort Lauderdale and return," she says. "And as many planes as we can possibly get sending equipment, we wanted to support."Maynard helped organize tomorrow’s event."We’re having a silent auction. There’s going to be entertainment, music. There’s going to be donation jars there for the public. Local businesses are donating items," she says. "And all the donations that come to Burners Without Borders go directly back out and it’s 100 percent volunteer work."Maynard says the event will include a variety of work."We have artists donating anything from something very small — handcrafted items or hand painted boxes for example — all the way up to Craig Kaviar has donated a wrought iron table," she says.The fundraiser starts at 5 p.m., Saturday, at Gallery Exvoto at 634 East Market St. in Louisville.