Faye Kass was born in 1948 in the Bergen-Belsen DP camp, where her parents met after surviving the Holocaust. Despite her early dreams of becoming an artist, Faye built a life in Boston where she raised two sons on her own and ran a successful home care business. She holds a masters degree in human services from Antioch University and along the way has worked in Massachusetts as a licensed social worker, real estate agent, and spent 10 years as a respiratory therapist. Her drive to help others led her to start the New Move Adult Day Center, an adult day-care program in Vermont which she ran for 5 years.
In 2000, seeking to make a difference abroad, Faye joined the Peace Corps in Dominica. What was meant to be a short-term commitment turned into 20 years of service where she taught art, ran a flea market, and began an eco-lodge project.
Her life took a drastic turn in 2019 after a car accident in the Dominica caused a spinal fracture, confining her to a wheelchair. Despite this setback, Faye has continued her passion for art and teaching, offering classes to memory care residents where she now lives at the Lutheran Care skilled nursing home in New York. This past year she exhibited her own watercolors at an exhibit in New Paltz NY.
“It's essential that each child learns how to handle creative tools, from brushes and paints to any other instruments, before I offer any feedback. Their artwork is a personal form of expression, which should be free from criticism. My role is to encourage the use of their imagination. I see life as a blank sheet where everyone sketches their own story. By promoting creativity among children, especially those from underprivileged backgrounds, I believe we're giving them a way to envision and build a better life for themselves and to strengthen our community, helping us move forward as a country and rise above poverty.”
Faye Kass, Dominica December 2012