Note: I previously applied for an awesome grant that was not awarded. Please would you disregard that application and consider this one as a revised idea? Thank you!

SOS Community Services is a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing and ending homelessness in Washtenaw County. In addition to providing shelter and operating a food pantry, SOS provides children’s services which includes the Sunny Days Summer Camp. Approximately 35 children ages 6 to 12 enrolled in local shelter or transitional housing programs in Washtenaw County attend the camp daily for eight weeks during the summer. After speaking with both the volunteer recruitment specialist and the camp director at SOS I feel confident that I could make a significant, positive contribution to the children’s experience this summer by adding a ceramic art component, focused on learning and self-expression, to the camp.

An Awesome Grant would provide the children at Sunny Days Camp the following: 1. A certified art teacher and trained art therapist (me) providing direct instruction in ceramic arts for 2 hours per week for 6-8 weeks (dependent upon camp scheduling). 2. Instruction will include a lesson on the culture, language and artwork of Nicaragua (based upon a trip I am about to take there). Children will learn art vocabulary and about the process involved in creating with clay. They will learn about planning by sketching their ideas and perseverance by seeing their projects through to completion. They will practice patience and fine motor skills as they form their clay and glaze their pieces. 3. The children will create 2-4 ceramic pieces, integrating what they have learned and receiving encouragement toward creative self expression. 4. By the end of the camp the pieces created by the children will be fired and returned to them. For every child it is a valuable experience to hold an object that he or she has created - for a homeless child this can take on extra significance.