Administrator « Vessels for Charity

Administrator

Letter to Administrators (link to document in word)

Who are we?

Vessels for Charity is a not for profit foundation supporting humanitarian aid offering a self funding clay art project to schools. Students craft one of a kind vessel of your own design or by following an instruction how-to video to raise money for a charity of their choice.

Vessels for Charity: Benefits

Each year, thousands of art teachers nationwide are participating in a Vessels for Charity self funding clay art project. VFC offers a free, educational program to schools, teachers and parents. This document describes the school and teacher benefits of participating in VFC Project which also provides many benefits to students, parents, your community and the world:

Boost students’ pride and self esteem: Repeatedly, participating teachers tell us about the increased pride and self esteem their students feel after participating in a VFC project. Students are putting forth extra effort in the art room, knowing it will help someone less fortunate in their own community and around the globe.

Increase parental and family involvement in students’ education: Parents and family members take a much more active role in their child’s art education by supporting their child involvement in a VFC project

Financial support for VFC program: After the student has complete the project, the parents and family may purchase by donating a minimum of $10. By doing so the student gets to keep the wonderful piece of art they created as well as be a part of charitable giving. You can also offer the art to the community by organizing a fundraiser at your school. Depending on the amount of promotion the teacher invests and the demographic of family members, this support could raise thousands of dollars for your own charity as well as equipment/art supplies for the classroom. Proceeds from donations will be distributed as follows:
50% for the school to distribute as they choose for reimbursement
of art supplies and donation to the charity of their choice.
50% is submitted to Vessels for Charity for distribution nationally and internationally for humanitarian aid.
Integrate technology into the classroom: Teachers and students engage in classroom charitable art projects, and can publish their artwork in an online art gallery at vesselsforcharity.org or on the Vessels for Charity Facebook page. The technical literacy of viewing artwork online, leaving other comments for friends, etc, provides a technology experience for students that stay within a safe, educational environment.

School rankings and honours for art program: Each student will receive a Community Service Certificate from VFC for participating in a Vessel for Charity project. Vessels for Charity highlights and honours top participating schools on their website. A VFC project is based on both technology integration and community involvement. Other administrators tell us this provides a very tangible statistic to highlight to their local community about the richness of charitable involvement.

Enrichment of a Vessel for Charity project: Participating teachers can share their experience, increasing the quality of charitable giving provided by their school. This teacher resource keeps the art program on the cutting edge of quality cross-curriculum art projects.

We cordially welcome your school community and hope that you and your students will find the experience with participating in a Vessels for Charity project as rewarding as the teachers, schools and families before you.

Vessels for Charity: Important Questions and Answers

When deciding whether or not to participate in a VFC project, there are many questions that are asked repeatedly by administrative officials. Below are the most common and important ones. However, if there are still unanswered questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are always here to help make our teachers and school administrators feel comfortable with this program. Our contact information is us@vesselsforchrity.org and 888-842-3342. We can also be reached through the contact us page on our website: www.vesselsforcharity.org

How to create a Vessel for Charity?

Richard Sean Manning aka The ClayMan is featured in an instructional how-to video or lesson plan showing students how to craft a vessel. A piece of clay is molded into a receptacle/container. It is then personalized by imprinting the soft clay with small objects such as keys, buttons, zippers, pencils, markers, shells, jewelry or something meaningful to the student brought from home.

Who supplies the Clay?

Clay is supplied by your establishment, however, this is a self funding clay art project and you are reimbursed for supplies used for your project as follows

50% for the school to distribute as they choose for reimbursement of art supplies and donation to the charity of their choice.
50% is submitted to Vessels for Charity for distribution nationally and internationally for humanitarian aid.

How do we raise money for charity?

Because students like to keep their artwork it is first offered to family and friends who are asked to donate $10 (suggested) towards fundraiser.

Which charities does VFC Support?

Vessels for Charity supports Humanitarian efforts, a list of charities are on the website.

What qualifies as a charity of our choice?

Vessels for Charity believe charity starts at home. You may choose the charity you would like to support. It may be a local charity, a national charity or a community need. Ex: emergency assistance to families in your community, equipment in your school etc.

How do I sign up to participate?

Complete a participation form and forward to Vessels for Charity Foundation, Inc. Instructors can sign-up their class to participate in a VFC Clay Art Project. Family and Friends, Educators, or anyone else interested can sign up to begin a Vessel for Charity Clay Club.

Appendix 1: Current Active Schools Participating

Below are some of our most active teachers and schools. You can also visit our blog to see pictures of the vessels from schools that have completed a VFC project.

Poulsbo Middle School

• 2003 Northeast Hostmark Street

Poulsbo, Washington 98370-7639

Kate Ebert, LEO Club Advisor

The charity that Poulsbo Middle School has chosen to support is the North Kitsap Fishline “Food for Thought” program who helps feed local school children on the weekends, when children often don’t have the food they need.

Shorecrest Preparatory School

• 5101 First Street Northeast

St. Petersburg, FL 33703-3099

727-522-2111 ext 523

Cindy Williams, Art Teacher

cwilliams@shorecrest.org

Shorecrest has chosen to upgrade their athletic facility with the funds from their VFC project.

St. Pete High School

• 2501 5^th Ave

St. Petersburg, FL 33713-6994

727-893-1842

http://www.stpetehigh.com

Marty Loftus, Art Teacher

LOFTUSM@pcsb.org

As Multiple Sclerosis, an autoimmune disease that affects the brain and spinal cord is near and dear to Mr. Loftus’ heart, it is the charity his class has chosen to support with the funds from their VFC project

Starpoint High School

• 4363 Mapleton Road

Lockport, NY 14094-9623

716-210-2300

http://starpointcsd.org/HighSchool.cfm

Molly McGreevy, Art Teacher

MMcgreevy@starpointcsd.org

Rae Colton

RColton@starpointcsd.org

SPHS has chosen the SPCA-Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) which is a comprehensive cancer research and treatment center located in Buffalo, New York. Founded in 1898 by Dr. Roswell Park, it was the first dedicated medical facility for cancer treatment and research in the United States. The facility is involved in drug development and conducts clinical research for cancer treatment.

Appendix 2: Feedback from Teachers, Parents and Students

“I had a blast these past couple of days making vessels for charity at my high school. I hope you are able to come back next year to teach the upcoming freshman how to make these vessels so they can have just as much fun as I had. I especially enjoyed glazing and molding vessels for charity. It makes me happy that I can be good at something I thought I would never be good at. I am looking forward to selling my “masterpieces” to my family and friends. I admire what you do very much and I think that Vessels for Charity is an amazing cause. I hope my class’s money that we raise goes to “toys for tots” for children in our community who are in need. I admire what you have done for all of our freshman Studio Art class’s and I am very grateful for all your hard work. What you do every day seems extremely hard but you seem very happy with what you do and I believe that is the best job anyone could ever have. Enjoy your holiday and have a great Thanksgiving. I hope to see you back at Starpoint Central High School for the upcoming freshman next year! Lots of appreciation”,

Brionna Juliana, Student from Starpoint High school

Appendix 3: Extended Leaning/Essential Benchmarks

The ClayMan series is a teaching video which teaches the process of making clay vessels, imprinting them and glazing. These are all skill sets used in ceramics curriculum throughout the K-12 system. This teaching video has language, techniques and skill development that incorporate art standards used in ceramic instruction as well as teaching character education with regard to charitable giving as students learn to be part of a team with a goal of making it personal to make a difference in the lives of someone less fortunate.

Students will learn and be able to:

Manipulate the selected medium using additive or subtractive techniques.
Demonstrate mastery of tools, equipment, and processes in the creation of three-dimensional objects.
Demonstrate finishing techniques such as under glaze, clear coat and advanced glazing techniques for advanced students
Students will also learn skills including slip and score technique used to attach one piece of clay to another.
Apply the elements of design (form, texture, shape, color) when designing three-dimensional art.
Apply the principles of design (pattern, rhythm, unity) when creating three-dimensional projects.

Extended Learning’s:

• Write self evaluations and artist statements analyzing the characteristics, merits and meanings of a work of art.

• Recognize that art is a form of language for self expression and communication.

• Explain their art and the art of others in terms of the artist’s intent.

• Create works of art that express individuality and personal meaning.

Appendix 4: Links to Vessels for Charity web presence.

Ctrl click to follow link or type link into your internet browser.

Article on aboutus.com

http://nonprofit.about.com/u/sty/profiles/causeofweek/Art-for-Charity.htm

Lockport Journal/Art-for-the-sake-of-charity

http://lockportjournal.com/local/x1142032892/Art-for-the-sake-of-charity

Tonawanda-news /The-art-of-charity