More news
PPG Industries announced that it has established a partnership with the Geneva-based Paint a Smile Foundation. The global paints and coatings supplier will help support and promote the non-profit organisation’s work of painting colourful murals that brighten hospitals and other care facilities. Furthermore, PPG will provide funding for two projects in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region in 2012.
Paint a Smile’s mission, according to founder and President Laura Cotton, is to reduce patient anxiety and make hospitals and other care facilities more friendly places by turning "cold and impersonal environments into colourful and welcoming worlds”. She said teams of professional "Smile Painters” collaborate with facility personnel to create appropriate themes for patients – whether children or elderly – and transform bare environments into soothing, playful and interactive ones. Since its founding in 2000, Paint a Smile has decorated more than 150 facilities in 15 countries.
"The world of colours is at the heart of our mission”, Cotton said. "With PPG and Paint a Smile joining forces, our shared understanding of the multiple uses of colour will enable us to help touch more lives and make a stronger difference. We are honoured to commence this long road together”.
Viktor Sekmakas, PPG senior vice president, Industrial Coatings, and president, PPG Europe, said "PPG always looks to support organisations and initiatives that reflect our corporate values and help enhance the quality of life in communities around the world. We are delighted to contribute to Paint a Smile’s unique work of bringing colour and vibrancy into what are often spare and unwelcoming environments by painting scenes and characters for patients and staff members to enjoy”.
About Paint a Smile Foundation
Paint a Smile Foundation is a non-profit organisation based in Geneva whose mission is to reduce anxiety and make hospitals more cheerful and friendly by permanently turning cold and impersonal environments into colourful and welcoming worlds. It trains teams of professional ‘Smile Painters’ and sends them around the world to decorate bare white walls and transform them into landscapes of dreams and fantasy. For more information, visit www.paintasmile.org.
