Lovingly handcrafted art kits offered to elementary school in Northern Virginia
UPDATE July 1st, 2020: Rhonda Williams has started a GoFundMe page here if you would like to support her continued efforts with this project.
Editor’s Note: With most children out of school for the rest of the academic year, parents have been struggling to keep their children engaged with learning and expressing themselves creatively, all while providing them with emotional support due to the disruption the pandemic has caused in their young lives. This is where art comes in handy, both for healing and as a fun activity to do during quarantine. Rhonda Williams, founder of Art B Cause and a Global Friend of WFWP USA, was inspired to design and produce art kits for an elementary school in Sterling, Virginia, which delivers them to its students.
With a desire to use my art to help others rather than solely for the purpose of self-expression, I teach art to students of all ages and help them keep their minds active and develop creativity. I have held free art lessons in my home and also in local libraries. The pandemic has changed our everyday lives, temporarily halting in-person instruction. After wondering what I could do in this unique situation, I decided that my talents could best be used to serve and encourage children at this time.
Gathering basic materials such as burlap, yarn, ribbons and craft gems in ziploc bags, I created art projects based on some of my previous art lessons that the kids could do at home and included written instructions for each one. At the bottom of each instruction sheet, I wrote Women’s Federation for World Peace and the link to the WFWP website, as well as the slogan “family is the school of love”, in the hopes that some mothers will check out the website.
I have made five different types of art kits so far. Some of them, like the “Gratitude Journal” and the “Compassion Plate”, encourage children to think beyond themselves and develop their hearts. Others, like the “Burlap Embroidery” art kit, could be used to make a great present for Mother’s Day or other occasions.
I started this project in March, after reaching out to a local elementary school to help with distribution. The school has a food distribution program for the community and currently serves about 500 families a week, and they were delighted to offer these art kits to their students. Every week, I make more than 100 art kits and deliver them to the school.
In addition to these school deliveries, I also deliver boxes of art kits, games and books, either by car or mail, to about 20 youth that are connected to my circle of family, friends, and art students.
The art kits are easily reproducible and quite inexpensive. The school copies the instructions and puts them in each kit, which helps me a lot and saves money on printing. If anyone is interested in serving their own community in this way, check out the sample pictures of my art kits and feel free to reach out to me through my website www.artbcause.com. Thank you!
