The Imagine Bus Project

Jane Lang, Imagine Bus Project North

Students show their art created on the Imagine Bus.

For two hours every Tuesday after school at Sheppard Elementary, The Imagine Bus Project North parks its mobile arts studio out in front and gets ready to welcome kids who are in the CalSERVES after school program. With yellow "bus passes" in hand, the kids board the Bus to create whatever project is happening for that week. It might be making rainsticks or clay bird nests or even monoprints with our very own printing press. Or maybe we will learn about a school of art and do a project in that school's style.

The kids get to learn about the larger world beyond Sonoma County: be it folk arts from other countries, art influences from times gone by, or even principles of art making, while creating a project that they can take home and proudly share with their family. We, on the Bus, know how important art exposure and experiences are for these kids as they build self esteem and self mastery. And art can even improve academic grades! But most importantly, it teaches a child how to dream and imagine beyond his current scope of vision, creating a more hopeful future with broader options to explore as they mature.

To learn more about the Imagine Bus Project, visit their website: imaginebusproject.org

Gearing up for the Human Race!

We are getting ready for the Human Race! Every year, CalSERVES participates in the Sonoma County Human Race, a fundraiser organized by the Volunteer Center. Thousands of people raise money for non-profits and participate on Race Day. We will be among the crowd!

Please drop by CalSERVES' Human Race Donation Site to make a contribution and see how we are coming on our goal to raise $15,000! The money we raise goes directly to the children we work with - we buy books for our students and support Summer programs.

Our own talented Jeremy King put this video together. Take a look! You can also view other CalSERVES videos on our YouTube Channel.

The Dog House 3rd Grade Built!

Dani Deems, Part Time AmeriCorps Mentor at Kawana Elementary

It was a lot of fun developing a service-learning project with our third grade After School class at Kawana Elementary. The students worked in small groups to come up with at least five different service opportunities they wanted to help with. With a class vote, they decided to help the Humane Society. We facilitated small group discussions to see how they wanted to help. They chose to help stray dogs to have a home. We made sure the students understood that the class couldn’t keep the strays, but that maybe we could build a home for them and then donate it to the humane society. They really liked this idea and were excited to build a dog house.

Our Promise Fellow at Kawana, Jenny Gibson, was able to obtain a donation of wood so our kids could build a dog house. A mentor’s cousin volunteered to cut the wood for us, which was necessary for the safety of our students. The kids were so excited for the first day on the project. The first step was for students to draw markings on the wood so our helper would know where to cut the wood. While some kids were outside, the rest of them were inside following step-by-step directions in creating their own 3-D paper doghouse. This kept them pretty entertained and it was nice to see them working as a team and helping their neighbors when they couldn’t figure out what to do next.

Students painting their dog house.

Once the doghouse was put altogether, the next part was painting it. We did a primer coat first. They all got their chance to paint. While some of the kids were painting, the rest of them enjoyed a game of Frisbee, which they were calling a game of “fetch”. Our next step in the project will be painting the doghouse a shade of blue. That’s the color they had voted on. And finally the last step for our project will be finding a local chapter of the Humane Society that will accept our doghouse. We’d love for the next adopted dog to go home with our fabulous never-been-lived-in doghouse!