First I must say, this project would not have such a great success
if it had not been for the donations.
Wendy and Gena stepped up and donated so much, each woman at house got
their own bag of goodies thanks to these ladies! It included sissors, colored pencils,
sharpies, washi tapes, glue sticks, pens , pencils and many more little
goodies! And another shout out to them
and a few others who handmade and donated journals. Each and everyone of them was a work of art
in themselves and they all found the perfect owners.. it was simply amazing to
watch how that worked out. So thank you
all from bottom of our hearts! We could
not do it without you!
It is really hard to put into words about my experience. I would say, I was rewarded far more than the
women at Beacon. They honestly felt
special and that people did think of them.
They poured over the journals, showing each other pages, quotes, little
hidden things in the journals. Nobody
had to tell them to say Thank You.. they were extremely thankful and
grateful! They expressed that throughout
the whole afternoon.
I was told it was a diverse group.. and diverse it was, which made
it fun! The ages ranged from young
twenty’s to mid fifty’s. The range of
art skill ranged as well. One girl
thanked me a lot, she had been in art and gotten away from for 6 years and she
said this was exactly what she needed.. the push, the supplies to get back into
it. Another one has her portfolio almost
ready to submit to a college. A few
never really picked up a paintbrush and were amazed at what they created! We came up with a great saying.. you know
those ooppss pages.. we all make? Well we
went from ooppss to awww. In 30
seconds! So there really are no
mistakes!
They have already sent me / us a Thank You note. And, the house manager told me this: “This is such a wonderful project!
When I went to a staff meeting at Beacon House this week I noticed a few new
journals had been created! Would it be possible for you to forward a picture to
my email? I would like to sing your praises to my bosses”
The
same staff member works at their domestic violence center. She took Patricia Campbell’s little kids
journal idea and helped some of the children of that center create. This was her comment : “I made the children's
scrap books at the DV Shelter- they were a HUGE hit! great for keeping little
hands busy”
So
they are already PAYING IT FORWARD. And,
that’s what this is all about! Thanks to
Wendy and Gena, who also donated blank composition books, some of the women are
going to make their kids or family members some art journals for Christmas
gifts.
I
can’t tell you how much it warmed my heart!
There is nothing like it! I am
sure we will keep in touch and hopefully work with them in the future. They are also a non profit. They are run on donations, grants and
fundraisers. If you are so incline, you
can find them at : http://www.libertycenterconnections.org/.
Everything
and every person there is confidential, so I could not get pictures of the
women, but I did get some shots of our table and some of work. As you can see, they got creative with the
jelli plate! I was amazed! The pink journal page, I worked with a women
who has never really painted, and we spread 2 shades of pink on with an old
gift card. She ran upstairs to get a
special note card to add to her page.
They got a break from their daily life as well as myself. They were open to learning and creating and I
could not have asked any more!
I
hope stories like this inspire you to create, to donate, even 5.00 helps us
help them and the rewards are so much bigger than 5.00!
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