For the last few I have had the pleasure of being involved with a small community in the Seattle area that does great things for the fourty one disenfranchised children, just outside their community. The fist year was online, we now meet face to face. I hop into my car, head over from the Spokane area and have a free to the children, two day workshop that gives these children a starter class in beginners art. Quite a few of the children come back each year. I teach this course. In two days, together, we learn that we can do whatever we set our minds to do and we make art. These children are given the basic skills to draw and then to paint. Towards the end of the last day, I teach them how to search out more lessons online. It started as a stand alone one year event and has grown to an annua event.
To raise funds this year I have designed a couple of t-shirts and put them up in my store. This is the graphic on the t-shirts. This is the first year for t-shirts, the sales supporting The Seattle Art Workshop.
The link to my shop is here, or here: CecileGraceCharles
I'm getting ready to do a fundraiser for this event, Free To The Students Art class that I do just outside of Seattle in July. It is a two-day event. I have 40 sign ups this year. These children are all disenfranchised. This means, either, one or both of their parents are incarcerated, one or both of their parents are addicts of one sort or the other. This year, there are 7 families who are semi-homeless so 15 of the children are from that dynamic. This is a by invitation only event put on by a local private group of neighbors each year near Frink Park, held in one of the neighbors’ businesses that has a large enough room to hold the class. This is my fifth year and the first year I am fundraising for it.
If the fundraiser exceeds my costs the children will get extra art supplies. It usually costs me $12.00 per student for materials.
Total needing to be raised $480. for the childrens art kit, plus the $340 for the gas and overnight stay. A total of $850.00. To date I have
Also, if anyone wants to buy one of my artworks, I will put the money directly to the project. I was thinking about doing this here in Spokane as well, and we are working on putting that together for July or August.
I would love to see a couple other artists do one of these with me here in Spokane.
If interested, to donate without buying a t-shirts, you can send funds to my paypal, from your paypal account: pnwartistcatalog@gmail.com
I also want to say, I pay taxes on any money I gather, I do not have a non-profit. I have been working under the umbrella of the non-profit that originally invited me to teach five years ago. If this becomes an annual event in Spokane, I will set it up as a non-profit.
I want to pay for the supplies so the money goes for that instead. Thanks !