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Boutique offers unique items for cancer survivors, friends
Net profits from store sales help fund the A Way With Words Foundation and ROCcK Children’s Choir.
BOARDMAN — AwwwMazing Place, a unique boutique for cancer survivors and friends, was created by a cancer survivor and a friend.
The nonprofit store is located just inside the east entrance to Southern Park Mall next to Buffalo Wild Wings.
“I think we’ll be able to do some good for some kids,” said artist Chris Yambar, co-founder of the store with Brenda M. Rider, breast cancer survivor, poet and musician.
“Through my cancer treatment and continued survival, I have used my poetry and songwriting to help myself and others cope,” said Rider, who was diagnosed with breast cancer about 10 years ago.
Later, with the help of some friends, she founded the A Way With Words Foundation, an organization for people who are survivors, relatives, or anyone who has been touched by cancer. The primary goals are to provide avenues of expression for cancer survivors, especially after treatment; to generate resources for healing and surviving; to increase awareness of cancer in children; and to raise money for cancer research and for cancer survivors, she said.
The foundation also sponsors the ROCcK (Raising Our Commitment to Cancer Kids) Children’s Choir, a group of cancer patients, survivors and family members who sing to cope and to reach out to others.
And now comes AwwwMazing Place.
Net profits from store sales will help fund the foundation and the children’s choir and cover the materials for the artists who donate works to the store, she said.
AwwwMazing Place features donated original art from Yambar; Guy Shively, Austintown graphic artist; Rider, former policewoman and owner of Glorious Homes in Austintown; and Shaun Foran, an artist and illustrator based in Wooster.
Shively is the best pin striper in the state and everybody in the hot-rod car culture in the tri-state area knows who he is, Yambar said.
Yambar, whose studio is in downtown Youngstown, is an internationally recognized author, artist and comic character creator who said he is “enthusiastically supportive” of Rider, the A Way With Words Foundation, of which he is a board member, and work with cancer survivors.
As a sponsor of the foundation, he created the LIFEMAXX‚Ñ¢ and related cancer-survivor-story comic- book characters. With the help of graphic artist George Broderick Jr., he launched the first copies of the new comic-book concept in November 2007. The teenage superhero in the comic book, Life Maxx, is a cancer survivor who overcomes limitations caused by the disease.
Yambar writes for recognized comic-book characters such as Bart Simpson, Radioactive Man, I Dream of Jeannie and Mister Magoo. Several of his own characters are in various stages of the animation process including Spells, El Mucho Grande, Twerp & Blue Baboon and Mr. Beat. He travels the country as an arts educator, stand-up comedian and Bible teacher and is a member of the Youngstown City Chaplains division.
Foren was asked sight-unseen by Rider and Yambar to illustrate their latest children’s cancer book, “Katypillar and the Fixemup Tree.” Foren, who studied at the Art Institute of Charlotte in North Carolina, has a studio in Wooster, Dream-CMYK, and is the lead designer for the Wooster Skate Shop.
Other store contributors include Bob DiPiero, a native of Youngstown, who is a songwriter for singers such as Neil Diamond and George Strait. Additional artists, musicians and celebrities will make appearances when their schedules permit, Rider said.
The store carries ROCcK Children’s Choir CDs, comic books for cancer survivors, and original jewelry by Maxine made with crystals, gold and sterling silver, especially for the AwwwMazing Place, Rider said.
AwwwMazing Place also has a connection with NASCAR, primarily through a partnership with the Tony Stewart Foundation. Stewart is one of NASCAR’s top drivers.
The store has autographed photos and die-cast cars from NASCAR’s elite drivers; as well as photos of actors, comedians, sitcom stars and various musicians who want to help the cause, Rider said.
“This is a gallery with heart that provides a great opportunity for artists to show their work and help kids at the same time,” Yambar said.
Also for sale is a limited-edition Dale Earnhart Sr. tribute electric guitar, which lists Earnhart’s seven championships on the back. The cost is $800.
Rider said there are family-friendly items for everybody’s budget, ranging from $1 to several thousand dollars.
The ROCcK Children’s Choir is also selling its hand-painted “Kids Helping Kids” T-shirts, and First Book of the Mahoning Valley has placed items in the store, Rider said.
AwwwMazing Place is for those touched by cancer to meet others who can inspire hope, she said.
This store is a celebration of life, Yambar said.
alcorn@vindy.com