Tuesday, June 23, 2009

summer

Holy humid hot days. Summer. But even the sweat soaking our shirts can't weigh us down. Here's some good news:

SideWalk chosen as the Harbour Club's Charity Partner for 2009.
Each year, Charleston's Harbour Club sticks their hand in a hat and draws out a non-profit's name. Not really. The truth is there were try-outs. Lucky for us, they didn't involve basketballs. Harbour Club invited several of Charleston's most respected non-profits to meet with their Young Executive Board and discuss the work they're doing in the community. We bribed one of our young writers to go with us, by promising her a delicious Chinese buffet dinner, and promising her mom we would have her home by seven, make her wear her seatbelt, and not text while we drove. She read a story - a story filled with intrigue, missing teachers, and orangey-gooey clues. We talked about the fun we've had, our past success, and our hopes for the future. John wore cufflinks. Harbour Club saves the day.
There's a golf tournament in the works (October 23 - 24) as well as several smaller events throughout the year. Proceeds from these will go towards providing our "SideWalk Writes the Future" workshop during the 2009 - 2010 school year.

Dear Mr. Bedford.
We're proud to announce the winners of the "Dear Mr. Bedford" persuasive writing contest. The 4th graders at Mitchell spent three "SideWalk Writes the Future" sessions writing perfectly constructed letters, asking Mr. Bedford to pick a 4th grader of the year. They cajoled, urged, wheedled him into making his choice. They provided evidence, sound reasoning, even witty comments supporting why their candidate was the best choice. He picked two students, based on their letters. Our facebook group picked the two authors whose letters moved them the most.
The winners:
4th Graders of the Year: Shamar, Jamarie
Young Authors Award: Chanquashia, JaDejauh
These 4 students won an all expense paid trip to Chucky Cheese with the Mitchell SideWalk team, where they enjoyed spending all of our gas money on skee-ball, and won enough tickets to buy a few Tootsie Rolls, a rocket launcher, and a bag of cotton candy. Congrats 4th graders!

Create
It's almost July, which means it's time for our Summer Art Camp on Edisto Island. Students at Jane Edwards Elementary will spend the month writing and starring in plays, crafting memorable short stories, painting murals on the walls of the school, planting a reading garden, getting high-fives, and enjoying moments of air-conditioning mixed with a healthy amount of kickball.

600+
That's the number of students SideWalk will be working with each week next school year. Every one of these students will receive regular one-on-one attention, discover their voice, and become published authors. We'd love to have you join us for that. It takes a lot of resources to make this possible: lots of volunteers in the schools, lots of help writing grants and putting on events, lots of $25 donations. We have a lot of fun being involved, and you would too. The kids to help, encourage, and love are here. So are we. SideWalk is not an idea that could work, it's one that is.

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