Overcoming obstacles and shaping positive experiences is the mission of Matt D’Arrigo, 31, founder and executive director of A Reason to Survive, a nonprofit organization that provides artistic opportunities for children facing adversities.

After its start in 2001, ARTS teamed with Ronald McDonald House and Children’s Hospital. The program relies on trained volunteers and provides a nonclinical atmosphere, supplies, and thematic activities for ill children and their families. It is intended to give children self-esteem, hope and a sense of accomplishment and control.

“Every day I get to see the smiles of children who are slowly slipping away from their setting and enjoying the arts,” says D’Arrigo.

After Sept. 11, ARTS started a children’s quilt project with Camp Pendleton that allows children of military families to define peace, love and hope on squares of fabric. ARTS collects the squares and sews them into quilt sections. D’Arrigo is collaborating with Ground Zero Kids Inc. to display the quilt in New York City and Washington, D.C., this month.

In its first year, ARTS has served more than 8,000 children in San Diego. It is an outreach program now, but plans are to find a permanent site and expand services to abused, neglected, homeless, physically or mentally challenged and at-risk children.

D’Arrigo, a Boston native and avid hockey player, drafted ARTS after his mother and sister were diagnosed with cancer within a month of each other. During those troubled times, he says he used painting and music as therapeutic outlets for expression and comfort. D’Arrigo’s wife, Jennifer, a microbiologist, and their son, Jordin, also are involved with the program, serving on the advisory board. “My focus is on family,” says D’Arrigo, “and this is a team effort by all involved.”

— Katherine Lyon