Art on the Loop 5

Supporting KIDS' CLUB!!!

Greetings one and all! It's been a while since I've posted on my personal blog. Cheri and I have created a new blog devoted just to photography, so this one returns to just regular life stuff.

Art on the Loop 5 was this past Friday night. Sarah Joy, Mikie and I all worked together to pull this one off. Sarah Joy is the Director of Electives at Kids' Club, which is where I teach the Art Elective on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Sarah Joy teaches Art on Mondays and Wednesdays to another group of children. KC serves about 100 kids. We spent a LOT of time and effort to promote KC at this art event. Below, you see me and Sarah with Lourdes, Jude and Bryton (in the middle), three kids who go to KC. J & L are 6-year-old twins, whom I've taught, and Bryton is 8. Bryton's mom owns Megabryt, a boutique in the middle of downtown. He made necklaces to sell and give all the money to Kids' Club. I heard he raised about $150!!!

Here I am with Misty Johnson, the Director of Kids' Club. Misty is an artist herself, having taught art in years past. She is SO FUN!! These kids are truly blessed to have her and Sarah Joy loving on them twice a week. Behind us are Misty's paintings that she displayed at AOTL. She's amazing!!

I couldn't resist getting a picture of the three of us, in case this IS the last AOTL. I don't plan on running this event anymore because it's too stressful. We've tried to build up a body of volunteers but it just hasn't happened. So this AOTL was very special to me. The culmination of a year of teaching Art to these amazing kids, and also admiring what we have done bringing live music and local art to our community basically for free while raising awareness of local charities. It's been a memorable, wonderful season, and I'm thankful for it.

Misty with Joe and Sylvia, who pastor a bi-lingual church here in town. They also serve at KC and they ROCK! I really like these guys and hope to get to know them better. They love these kids so much. We had a LOT of KC volunteers come out to the event, and some even participated by showing art!

As it sometimes happens, we can't be at everything that's going on on a Friday night. Lourdes, Jude and Bryton were the only kids who made it to AOTL. Sarah Joy and I had worked so hard to promote AOTL at Kids' Club and have their artwork ready for viewing that I just couldn't bear the thought of the kids not seeing how their art looked that night.

So, Saturday morning Sarah Joy and I packed it all up, brought it back to Kids' Club and set it back up for all the kids to see! This is a group picture I took yesterday of the majority of kids who I taught this past school year.

I love these kids. Yes, the work is exhausting after you've worked all day elsewhere and then go home to be with your family at night, BUT it is so worth it. These guys will welcome you into their hearts so quickly. If you are interested in volunteering OR donating to KC (it is totally nonprofit and run on donations), contact me and I'll get you connected.

Their Carnival is this Thursday so I'll try and get some photos of that. After Thursday, I won't see them until the Fall. Happy Summer, everyone!