Multi-district — While the temperature crept up to 90 degrees in the middle of June, it was cool inside Lee Street Christian Reformed Church, where Godfrey-Lee, Grand Rapids and other local students gathered for song, dance, color and crafts at the third annual “I Am Art” camp.
Around one table sat children using watercolor paints to create art inspired by an empty Fritos chip bag someone brought back from lunch.
“We didn’t have this planned, we just went with it,” said Arlene Helder, church member and local painter of 35 years. “We painted a vase full of flowers before lunch.”
Ruby started her chip bag painting by drawing a square with pencil and then an oval where the name “Fritos” goes.
She and her friend Camila will both be fourth-graders at Cesar Chavez Elementary this fall.
“I spelled ‘Fritos’ with the original letters, then I painted it yellow with a little bit of orange to make a perfect orangey-yellow,” Camila said. “It’s really fun to mix all the colors and you get pretty colors.”
Friends Adilene Matias and Adilene Lopez, both going into 10th grade, cleaned brushes and painted flowers and Frito bags alongside the students.
“The watercolor class is really calming,” Adilene M. said. “Last year, we (volunteered) for the pottery class and the kids were a little crazy.”
“It’s really relaxing,” Adilene L. added. “This year, the kids are really sweet and really respectful.”
Godfrey-Lee schools partner with Lee Street CRC throughout the school to support students and their families in a variety of ways and the camp is one of them. Lee High School’s Kent School Services Network Coordinator Jocelyn Coria said she is “incredibly thankful” for the church’s community and their desire to serve the needs of staff and students.
“The Lee Street Church community has poured so much compassion and support into our school-district these past few years,” she said. “They have donated holiday food baskets, created opportunities for Lee students at their ‘I Am Art’ summer camp, gifted our staff with an appreciation luncheon and offered a crying shoulder when we had deaths in our school community.”
“I Am Art” camp originated in Guatemala more than 10 years ago. Lee Street Church’s Pastor Joel Van Dyke and his wife, Marilyn, previously lived there and helped bring the camp to the Wyoming community in partnership with Athentikos, a non-profit that facilitates online art workshops to serve underre-sourced communities around the world.
‘Blessings’ to the Community
Local and visiting artists and volunteers joined the church’s staff to host 100 kids, ages 5-12, from the surrounding neighborhoods for five days of art-centered activities, including lunch and snacks.
Artists led 10 workshops, each focusing on a different spiritual lesson and artistic medium, including pottery, jewelry making, music, dance, woodworking and arts and crafts. Every day’s schedule also included time for groups to rotate through community partner workshops that provided instruction on mental and physical health and contributed to a large mural outside.
Lee High School soon-to-be senior Mario Morales said he heard about the camp from his art teacher and was interested in the kids’ art projects. He served as a floater volunteer, helping wherever he was needed.
“I love working with and spending time with the kids (and) it’s been really fun,” he said. “I live here, I go to school here and I want to be a blessing to the neighborhood.
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