Out of the Blue

Lately many good things have happened “out of the blue”. As Thanksgiving approaches, there are SO MANY out of the ordinary things to be thankful for in regards to operating Reach Studio.

A week ago, in one day, I received 2 special phone calls out of the blue. First one came from Jennifer at the Mid Michigan Creative Alliance. Her organization is having a social event on Dec. 11, (http://www.lansingadclub.com/events.php ) and the entrance fee is bringing an art supply donation. They learned about Reach and would like to donate all the art supplies they get to Reach. She asked for a list of supplies we needed! Second one was that evening. Francie Dittrich, a retired Lansing School District Art Specialist for whom I did quite a bit of subbing way-back-when, called me at home. She wondered if I was still doing the “art program” (meaning Reach) because she wanted to donate all of her proceeds from her current solo art show at Hannah Community Center to Reach.

A couple days later was the big “Empty Bowls” fundraiser which is not about raising funds for Reach… but about Reach using its assets to help raise $ for hunger relief, (~16 “potters” made 180 bowls out of 400 lbs of DONATED clay to raise over $4300 and attract an estimated 200 attendees). University Reformed Church (who hosts and helps sponsor the event) provided reimbursement for glaze and firing costs, and all the food. We don’t have any bowls left!

Then on Monday, rumors were out that there was a “story” in the newspaper about Reach. I didn’t know anything about it, let alone which newspaper! But yesterday we found what people were talking about in the “Opinion” section of Monday’s Lansing State Journal. Paula Clegg (haven’t seen her for some time, but she had been involved in getting a student from St. Vincent’s home involved with Reach a couple years ago), wrote a beautiful statement about Reach, completely unsolicited. Here it is:

“Art Center Praised”
In this economic climate, it is nice to know there is a program that offers many free artistic opportunities to children in the Lansing area. Reach Studio Art Center is a tax-exempt, non-profit neighborhood art center located in REO Town.
Alice Brinkman and her staff have worked hard to make programs available to children with no- or low-cost options. It is the kind of grass roots program that so often does not get the recognition it deserves.
Please take the time to look at its Web site at www.reachstudioart.org. It will get my donation dollars this year as an agency which truly utilizes all the money on behalf of the children and families it serves. Paula Clegg, DeWitt

Also on Monday, we got another call—out of the blue. Katherine Groll, a local attorney who is trying to raise funds for a non-profit medical center called with a proposal. She had seen Reach driving by and stopped to pick up some brochures. These led her to Reach’s website where she became very impressed and interested in what we do. She is orchestrating a fundraising event in February 2009 for the non-profit medical organization around a “heart” theme, She is soliciting heart art from various places, but wondered if she could provide canvases to our Creative Connections kids on which to paint hearts. She also wants to donate $5 for each painting to Reach Studio. The heart art will be auctioned at the event in February, providing Reach with some great PR and exposure. While it will be a challenge fitting this in by the end of this year’s Creative Connections, this seems like a great opportunity not only for our kids, but for Reach as a whole! Another example of organizations using their assets to help each other!

It is so great to witness the way people are finding out about Reach, and recognizing its benefit to the community. It’s easy to fall into wondering whether anyone out there knows or cares about Reach (slight exaggeration) when I get caught up in the day to day challenges of finding funding, finding participants and staffing, helping children grow their creativity, keeping the place cleaned and maintained, and paying bills. But clearly weeks like this serve as a graceful reminder to me that there is much for which to be thankful… and that good thoughts and thoughtful actions are really out there and may not be so “out of the blue” as one might think.

Happy Thanksgiving,

Unsure about this

I'm doing a quick trial on a new blog site for Reach Studio. Not sure what I am getting myself into!