About Sparklestone
What’s in a name?
The name “Sparklestone” is actually the translation of my last name. “Finkelstein”, in the German, roughly translates into ’sparkling stone’. . . I was always drawn to the image of a lively, “sparkling” energy emanating from a secure, grounded presence.
It expresses in a fundamental way my belief that we can create a sense of aliveness and vitality, ’sparkling’ energy, that emanates from a foundation, a ’stone’ of strength and stability.
This concept serves as the guiding light for our relatively new organization. We bring passion to our work, while also thoroughly researching our material. We elicit a clear voice to those whose experiences have been borne out of the struggle of living with a chronic illness and are open to sharing this struggle both inside and outside their communities. Our purpose is to ’shine a light’ on chronic illness in all of its manifestations.
In our first project we explored the effects of psoriasis on the emotional and psychosocial areas of life. We created a safe space, the ’stone’, in which a handful of courageous people stepped forward for the first time to speak openly and honestly about a condition that has been misperceived and misunderstood throughout history.
Our Beginning
We launched Sparklestone with My Skin’s on Fire, the first film to examine the impact of psoriasis on the emotional and psychosocial areas of life. The film was successful because we created a safe space in which a handful of courageous people who live with the disease stepped forward for the first time to speak openly and honestly about a condition that has been misperceived and often misdiagnosed throughout history.
In this process we validated the lives of some seven million Americans (and over one hundred million worldwide) whose psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis severely impacts their daily lives on so many levels. And by doing this we also created the space for our families, friends and those outside our community to understand the challenges of living with these diseases.
We hope to continue down the path where we’ve walked these last few years and create authentic and compelling films dealing with the challenges around living with chronic illness.
A Non-Profit Foundation
At the beginning of 2007 the IRS granted Sparklestone its official 501 (c)(3) non-profit tax status. This means that we are now in a position to receive tax-deductible contributions in order to continue our work and develop more media-based activities utilizing digital technology to reach out to so many communities.
Please consider making a contribution to The Sparklestone Foundation so that we may continue to ’shine a light’ on chronic illness and demystify its presence in our lives.
To make a Contribution:
Please make out your check to The Sparklestone Foundation and mail it to 758 Kingston Avenue #304, Oakland, CA 94611
All contributions are tax deductible.
Fred Finkelstein, President
email:ff@sparklestone.org