When baby Beckett was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at six months old, his family was faced with expensive treatment options. To help shoulder the costs, Beckett’s aunts decided to turn their hobby into a win-win fundraiser.

Little Bee Gallery (LBG), an online art gallery co-founded by Beckett’s aunts and run through Calgary and Winnipeg, sells donated art and puts all proceeds towards his treatments. In the 15 months since launch, the gallery has raised enough money to cover all of Beckett’s treatments in 2024 and 2025 and has begun partnering with artists outside of the family.

Co-founder Melanie Mireault, who lives in Calgary, said that her goals have been to keep overhead as low as possible.

“I work a full-time job, Little Bee Gallery is not something that makes me any money, or (Co-Founder) Suzanne (Mireault), so the goal was, let’s keep costs low so as much as possible can go towards Beckett and help fund his care and his specialist equipment. So (an online gallery) was the most approachable way to do that,” she said.

Typically, Beckett goes to physiotherapy once a week. Quarterly, his family takes him to therapy intensives, Mireault said, which include two weeks of physio sessions, speech language therapy sessions, and an occupational therapy session.

“That therapy helps him learn how to control his muscles a little bit better. He’s still working on sitting independently, but he’s consistently progressing towards doing that. He’s working on assisted walking,” she said.

For both the family and many of the gallery’s clients, the lack of government-funded care has been a surprise, according to Mireault. Even coverage options through private health care are typically minimal.

“You’re pretty limited for how many physio sessions you can go to before you’re paying out of pocket. That was really good as an educational tool to say, ‘hey, kids with special needs, there’s a lot of costs associated with that,’ and people were happy that they had a unique way to help out through the gallery.”

Art from outside the hive

In recent months, the gallery has attracted top national and international talent through its Friends of Little Bee program, including American expressionist Caroline Karp, internationally exhibited Canadian artist Roger Lafreniere and Shawna Boulette Grapentine, whose work has been showcased nationally and internationally, according to an LBG-issued release.

The ever-diversifying list of artists has immensely helped in scaling the gallery, Mireault said.

“It lends credibility to us. It’s at a place where now, if you go on our website, you might see a name you recognize, or maybe you stumbled across those artists’ pieces on Instagram or Facebook before. You’ll feel more confident that the artwork that you see at the gallery is high quality and something you might want to hang on,” she said.

The varied artists’ work has also created an inclusive set of price points, with prints available from $50 up to an original piece that was listed for more than $9,000.

As a main painter for LBG, Mireault stays busy away from her day job, creating and managing the gallery.

“Suzanne (Mireault) and I are both, I would call us flagship artists for the gallery. We try to make sure we have lots of inventory available, and a lot of my spare time is spent painting in my little home studio in the basement,” she said.

“I try to stay on top of social media posts, which does take a good chunk of time reaching out to other local artists or places where we could perhaps get some art on the wall in Calgary or in Winnipeg, and then just managing the website, which, fortunately, was a lot of upfront work, and it’s not bad in terms of day to day keeping it updated from here on out.”

Hoping to help other families

LBG would love to position themselves to help other families dealing with similar issues. Mireault said that she really hopes it’s possible in the future.

“For us, it’s reaching new markets and more of the market. We started small with friends and family, and slowly they’re telling their friends and family, and it is growing, but the more momentum we can get there, the quicker we can get to a point where we can help fund other families,” she said.

“I’m not sure what that model looks like right now, but it’s something that we’re dreaming of every day. Ultimately, it’ll come with a larger customer base and selling more art and reaching more people, and the more established artists that we can attract to the gallery will help with that as well.”

For now, Mireault is incredibly grateful for the impact LBG has had on their family’s Little Bee.

“Little Bee (Beckett) is the light of my little life, he’s the cutest, sweetest kid, and he works harder than anyone I know. He can’t grasp onto a toy truck and roll it around like a normal kid, that takes so much effort and intention on his side of things, but he does it every day,” she said.

“He’s the hardest working little nugget I’ve ever met, and this gallery exists to support him, the first little bee. Hopefully we’ll be able to expand to help other little bees.”