Donates money to multiple sclerosis victims

By Associated Press, 7/21/2003

NEW YORK -- In late June, Corinne Turner walked into a Utah discount store and spent 99 cents on canvas wallpaper. She opened her purchase to find -- surprise! -- five pieces of art worth $6,000.

That wasn't the only twist.

Turner contacted the artist in New Jersey; his son verified the artworks' authenticity, and told her to keep the prints. Turner opted to sell the pieces to raise funds for multiple sclerosis victims.

The artist Pino, best known for producing romance novel cover art, agreed that was a worthy cause -- and donated 495 limited edition prints of a previously unreleased piece.

The gesture was expected to raise more than $400,000 for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society as painting mixed with philanthropy on an unlikely palette.

The cause is personal for both Turner and Pino, who goes by one name. Turner, 43, of Layton, Utah, was diagnosed two years ago with the chronic disease of the central nervous system. And one of Pino's in-laws was left in a wheelchair by the illness that affects 400,000 Americans.

"It's a great story," said Max Dangelico, Pino's son and business partner. "Thousands of people will benefit. The MS Society will benefit, and Pino is happy."

The tale began two years ago, when a shipment of Pino prints bound for Baltimore turned up missing. The paintings -- wrapped in wallpaper -- eventually reappeared in The Basement, an Ogden, Utah, store that sells misdirected, unclaimed freight.