Handing Off the Project

On Monday (8/18), I met with Goose Hollow's coordinators, Brandi Tuck and Matt Kertman, to hand off my project. As usual, I had an awesome time talking with them and hearing their feedback and ideas, but this time was special because for the first time I left with lighter arms than I went with!

With the final, edited activities book, I also gave Matt and Brandi feedback forms for the Kid Time Hosts that gauge the activities' effectiveness and double as inventory checks, a sponsor form that lists the contact information for all current and prospective sponsors, and email templates and guidelines for contacting businesses.

My Girl Scout troop leader, Julia Churchill, was also at the meeting. She has always been there for me from the start of this project and, really, from the start of my Girl Scout career. I think the meeting made a great impression on her as well, because both Matt and Brandi were very open about including Girl Scouts in other shelter opportunities. As I mentioned in my previous post, one such opportunity that I am very excited to take part in is the holiday party that takes place in December. Another event is the shelter's annual fundraiser that occurs in October. Since I won't be home at that time, I am thinking of asking the Key Club I previously contacted to help with the event. I think it would be a great way to link the Key Club with the shelter!

Going forward, what I will be doing during the school year is contacting shelters nationally (with permission from the coordinators, of course) to increase awareness about the need for self-expression in homeless shelters. I will probably start doing this a few months after the self-expression program has been implemented, so I can use Goose Hollow as an example.

Attached is a picture of me with Brandi and Matt:

Testing Out Materials - Rounds Two AND Three!

This post is a little bit belated, since it has been a few weeks since a tested out new materials at the shelter. On the 3rd and 7th, I went to Goose Hollow to test out materials donated by Collage, Mimosa Studios, The Naked Sheep Knit Shop, and SCRAP. Specifically, we did collaging and drawing on tiles on the 3rd, and pom-pom making and finger-painting on the 7th.

The testing session on the 3rd was a little bit of a learning lesson. Let me just say this: giving Mod Podge to kids under the age of five is stressful and messy unless you dish out the glue beforehand! However, the older kids seemed to enjoy collaging and produced some very pretty pages. We also tried tile-painting again, but the kids were still more interested in drawing on them with markers. Plus, by then I was determined not to give any liquid-based mediums to the kids. Both the collages and tiles were big hits with the kids. I've attached photos, per usual. :)

On the 7th, there were fewer kids at the shelter and the shift was a lot shorter, so I did quicker and easier activities. I taught the kids how to make pom-poms and brought out a little finger-paint-like stamp set from SCRAP. The kids loved their pom-poms very much - some of the girls even attached the pom-poms to their hair! And of course, like most other kids, the finger-printing set was very popular. More pictures attached!

The shelter is currently closed for its annual renovation, and I will not be able to volunteer much during the school year. I will come back during breaks and update this blog with pretty pictures, but until then, it looks like I may just be posting text - no photos unless I get them from other volunteers.

On a happier note, when I come back during winter break, you can expect many, many photos from my volunteer sessions and the holiday party the shelter throws every year! It's an awesome program they have set up for Christmas, and I am so excited to update you all when the time comes. Until then, I hope these photos will suffice!

Second Round of Materials and Sponsors

I have exciting news today - just received a second round of donations from two generous stores yesterday. I picked up a second box of ceramic tiles from Mimosa Studios. The store owner is also interested in partnering with Goose Hollow shelter to create some sort of collaboration program! So excited to break the news to the shelter coordinators when we meet on Monday.

The second store who donated is Piccolo Mondo Toys. I actually have been to this store many times as a kid, and remembered how much I loved their creative, colorful toys. The store owner generously donated an entire packing box's worth of toys, instruments, crafts, and other miscellaneous kids' items. I am so grateful for the generosity that local businesses have shown to Portland Homeless Family Solutions and my program. Without any further ado, here are the pictures of the donated items.

Courtesy of Mimosa Studios

Courtesy of Piccolo Mondo Toys

Testing out Materials

On Sunday (7/20), I brought all the materials that I received from SCRAP, The Naked Sheep Knit Shop, Mimosa Studios, and Collage to the Goose Hollow Homeless Family Shelter in downtown Portland.

The purpose of my visit was to test out the majority of the materials to evaluate my activities. The main activities that I had the kids tried out involved the ceramic tiles from Mimosa Studios; markers and other writing utensils from SCRAP; and yarn from The Naked Sheep Knit Shop.

Overall, I think the visit went very well. There were five pre-school age (3-5 years old) girls there who did most of the "testing out." I brought out the ceramic paints, but they were more interested in drawing on the tiles with markers. They were especially excited that they had a piece of their artwork that they could take with them. I can imagine that a lot of the crafts they make do not last long, which explains their wonder and excitement at receiving their tiles.

This showed me that perhaps the activities should be simpler, since most of the kids in the shelter are about 3-5 years old. I will probably alter some of the activities to fit these observations. Of course, I will still include in more complex activities such as collaging for the older kids.

The next time I visit on August 2nd, I hope to test out the collaging materials from Collage if there are any older kids there. I will also try again with the ceramic tiles from Mimosa Studios to see if the paints are necessary or if the kids are satiated with drawing on them with markers.

Here I have attached a few pictures of the children drawing on their tiles (with permission, of course).

Materials and Sponsors

After several months of cold-calling and emailing local Portland crafts stores for donations, yesterday I finally picked up the first batch of - hopefully - many supply donations.

This round's supplies were provided by SCRAP (MLKJ Blvd), Collage (Alberta St), Mimosa Studios (Alberta St), and The Naked Sheep Knit Shop (Killingsworth St).  SCRAP gave $20 in store credit. Collage provided many magazines, sponges, scissors, glue and paper. Mimosa Studios supplied ceramic tiles, glaze, and brushes. The Naked Sheep Knit Shop equipped us with a generous amount of high-quality yarn.

I would like to say a huge thank you to all of these stores! We appreciate the donations very much and the kids will love them! I will upload pictures of them carrying out the activities on this blog.

I will be testing out several activities at the shelter on July 20th and on August 2nd to gain feedback on the activities. Throughout the next year, I will be gathering feedback from other volunteers at the shelter. Here, I have posted photos of the materials that the aforementioned stores have donated.

 Courtesy of Collage

 Courtesy of Mimosa Studios

Courtesy of SCRAP

Courtesy of The Naked Sheep Knit Shop

Feedback from Stores

Hello all,

Just wanted to provide an update to let you know that there are three stores that have replied to my donations requests so far: SCRAP, Collage, and Mimosa Studios. They are all pretty close to each other on the East side of Portland. I am going to contact the Sunset Key Club and have a few volunteers go and pick up the materials. I will post what the stores donated soon!

Best,
Sharon

Activities Book

Goose Hollow Activities Book