Kevin and I went to TLC (Transitional Living Center) to give Crocs to kids last week. It was so fun seeing their faces and watching as they put them on their little feet. I took a video of one little girl dancing a quick jig. She was over the top with excitement. When I can figure out how to share that short film, I will link it to our blogs. We are also including a small gift package with the Crocs. It includes directions on how to clean them and add art themselves. There are markers and small gifts from our local Park City Mall's Crocs Store.
Follow our postings on www.omagonline.com/crocs
I will continue to post on both sites with more information. Thanks for following our progress.
The Sole Challenge
Inspired by O, The Oprah Magazine and Crocs' "100 Women 100 Shoes Challenge", we seek to raise awareness about children experiencing homelessness in Lancaster County, PA and the transformational power of art.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Our Soles on "O"
Posting On- www.omagonline.com/crocs
I wanted all of you who follow this Blogspot to know we are now posting on the Oprah Magazine website. I will continue to post The Sole Challenge information here as well.
As you might imagine, this has been a great experience. I'm learning more great things about Lancaster every day. Our Window of Awareness at The Ware Center was a big success. The concert sponsored by our local Coalition to End Homelessness was also wonderful. The "house" display of Crocs came down after the event and all of the Crocs are ready to give away to deserving children in our area.
Stay tuned for more exciting news!
As you might imagine, this has been a great experience. I'm learning more great things about Lancaster every day. Our Window of Awareness at The Ware Center was a big success. The concert sponsored by our local Coalition to End Homelessness was also wonderful. The "house" display of Crocs came down after the event and all of the Crocs are ready to give away to deserving children in our area.
Stay tuned for more exciting news!
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Art CAN...
Art can move people to take action.
Art can transform lives. Art can heal.
Art can be a tool to express ideas,
feelings and beauty.
Did you notice the house in the window coming in to The Ware Center this evening? This art installation designed and created by Kevin Lehman and Girls On The Run(GOTR) is part of my plan to raise awareness about children experiencing homelessness in Lancaster County.
I won a contest sponsored by O, The Oprah Magazine and Crocs. I am one of one-hundred women across the nation whose 500 word proposal was selected. I won!! I won 100 pairs of Crocs shoes to make a difference in my community. It didn’t take me long to figure out Lancaster won! This giving, caring community won an opportunity to perhaps capture national attention. My proposal to the O Team was simple. Gather 100 women to decorate, paint, enhance a pair of Crocs, use them as a focal point in an art installation in prominent window in our city. These shoes would then be given to my charity of choice, Lancaster Creative Factory. They will in turn give Crocs to children in our community experiencing
homelessness.
Lancaster Creative Factory (LCF) is my charity of choice because of its mission to cultivate creativity through education in the visual arts and crafts. Located on So. Prince in the city, Kevin Lehman’s LCF provides affordable and obtainable programs including art classes, workshops and community projects. A portion of the proceeds generated from programs provides scholarships and community outreach to organizations and individuals that demonstrate need.
Over 100 young women of Lancaster GOTR partnered with LCF’s volunteers and me on October 27th for Create O’Crocs Day. Our goal was to paint and decorate 100 pairs of Crocs. GOTR is a life-changing, character development program for girls in 3rd through 8th grade. Their mission is to inspire girls to be joyful, healthy and confident using a fun, experience-based curriculum which creatively integrates running. The photos you are seeing were taken by Jean Sharf and Carrie Husted during our project launch. Thank you Girls On The Run, you rock.
During my project planning I met with community service organizations and shelters to learn about homelessness in Lancaster County. It just happened our O’Crocs Window of Awareness found a home here at The Ware Center thanks to Harvey Owen’s generosity. It just happened to open November 2nd, during the same month as the Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Benefit Concert sponsored by the Lancaster County Coalition to End Homelessness. The Coalition kindly invited me to share this happy coincidence with you this evening. My mission to raise awareness about homelessness and their mission to END homelessness in our community coincided… just happened! Thank you Mike Folley and all of the members of the Coalition and members of our community who are working to serve people in crisis. Thank you Oprah, Crocs, LCF Board and volunteers, GOTR, The Ware Center and Lancaster County residents who make Lancaster a generous and caring place to live.
You can help me with my project by joining The Sole Challenge, contact me at thesolechallenge@gmail.com.
Remember your charity of choice on November 30 through Lancaster Community Foundations’ Extra Ordinary Give. Go online that day to their web site www.lancfound.org and give generously to support your community.
“You may not think you can reach it. Climb anyway. You may not think you’ll be
heard. Speak anyway. You may not think you can change things. Try anyway.”
-Maya Angelou
Art inspires. Thank you.
Roberta
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Windows Work!
“You may not think you can reach it. Climb anyway. You may not think you’ll be heard. Speak anyway.
You may not think you can change things.
Try anyway.”
-Maya Angelou
Windows work to get the Word out!
The Ware Center is hosting our O’Crocs Window of Awareness
display. For those of you who don’t
know, The Ware Center is located at 42 N. Prince Street, in downtown
Lancaster. Kevin Lehman of Lancaster
Creative Factory brilliantly constructed the outline of a house that holds all
100 pairs of Crocs. This display is
beyond my wildest imagination! Hope you
get an opportunity to see it in person.
The Frist Friday Gallery Walk (11/2/12) opening was filled
with energy and many people. Some
members of Girls on the Run came with their families to see our display, find
their Crocs and take pictures.
Thursday, November 16, The Lancaster Coalition to End
Homelessness will hold a free concert.
They have asked me to speak about our project. The evening will be filled with music. We will take the window exhibit down after
the concert. Lancaster Creative Factory
will begin giving shoes to children experiencing homelessness next week!
The Sole Challenge is Working!!
The Sole Challenge is alive and well. I have made contact with several people
actively working on their plan. This is
all a bonus to what my challenge is and how it is playing out. One young woman is planning to sell jewelry
she creates then donate a portion of her earnings to her favorite charity. Lancaster Creative Factory donated twenty-five
Crocs to a community activist who is asking artists to paint them, auction them
and give the money to her charity of choice.
A book club member is gathering pledges for reading books and the list
goes on.
Remember, an idea is good; a plan helps. You just have to WANT to DO something to take
action.
Roberta
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
A Treasured Jewel, a Gift...
Lancaster Creative Factory hosts Girls on the Run For Create
O’Crocs Day
When I imagined Saturday’s Create O’Crocs Day with 100 young
women enhancing 100 Crocs’ shoes, I didn’t dare to dream of a day like the one
that happened. It was perfectly amazing!
Our estimated number of 180 participants grew to over 200 team young women of
Lancaster Girls on the Run (GOTR).
Lancaster Creative Factory (LCF) hosted these energetic artists and
their parents along with the help of twenty-one plus volunteers! Our LCF team worked together with the
Executive Board of GOTH, as well as some of the girls themselves, to facilitate
a fun filled journey.
Girls traveled through five stations.
#1. and #2. Create Your Crocs-painting and
decorating,
#3. Snap Shot Station-photos of girls with
finished Crocs
Crocs were then tied together in pairs and draped over a clothesline
to dry.
Station #4. Setting the Pace-presented information for our
guests. The Faces of the Homeless exhibit provided to us by the Lancaster
Coalition to End Homelessness and “The Beginning” mural made available by
Lancaster County Youth Intervention Center were focal points in this area. Tabor Community Services, Waterstreet Ministries,
Crocs Park City Center, Lancaster Creative Factory and Girls on the Run provided
literature posters and flyers.
Our speaker, Cristina Lickman from Waterstreet, shared her
experience working with families and children experiencing homelessness. Music filled the morning air with Christopher
“Wind Eagle” Thompson’s soothing guitar and flutes. We rocked out in the afternoon Francis Miller’s
violin, interactive percussion beats with Tammy Hesson and her friend, Lori.
The fifth Station-The Finish Line gave young artists an
opportunity to sign the O’Crocs Window of Awareness structure and write a
message to the children experiencing homelessness who will receive a pair of
Crocs donated by Lancaster Creative Factory.
Before exiting through Kevin’s studio and showroom, each participant
shared their thoughts and experience on a page of the day’s journal.
Kevin Lehman, Lancaster Creative Factory’s Founder, worked
with Clint Costanzo, of Fontanini Italian Meats and Sausage. They are masters
at making delicious brick oven pizzas for our guests. Lancaster’s J. Walter Miller Company provided
snacks and drinks.
How do I begin to thank all of you who made this day so
special for so many? I hold the memory
of that day in my heart as a treasured jewel, a gift. Your bright enthusiastic faces were glorious,
beautiful, and joyful. I’m deeply
grateful to all of you who helped make my “little” dream become reality.
Roberta
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Photos from Create O' Crocs Day
Create O' Crocs Day was a great success! Thanks to everyone who contributed in their own special way... The Sole Challenge marches on!
Click here to view photos from Create O' Crocs Day.
Click here to view photos from Create O' Crocs Day.
Friday, October 26, 2012
100 Girls on the Run
Getting Kevin's studio ready for our 100 Girls. |
Tomorrow is the big day! I'm excited...
Here's the press release we sent off. Wish us luck!
Roberta
100 Women, 100 Shoes and Girls on the Run
LANCASTER, PA; (October 21, 2012) After being
selected as a winner by O, The Oprah
Magazine and Crocs’ “100 Women 100
Shoes Challenge”, Roberta Little quickly moved forward with her mission to
raise awareness about children experiencing homelessness and the transformational
power of art. She initiated a link
between Lancaster Creative Factory (LCF), and Girls on the Run of Lancaster (GOTR), both newly formed
501(c)(3) non-profit organizations. The young women of Girls on the Run have been
“commissioned” to enhance one hundred pairs of Crocs shoes, as part of their
curriculum community impact mission. These Crocs were Little’s prize she
intends using to make a difference in her community.
Lancaster Creative Factory will host the fall
GOTR participants for Create O’Crocs Day during a privately held event on Saturday,
October 27, 2012. An estimated 180
members of GOTR will be participating. A gallery featuring Faces of the Homeless provided by the Lancaster Coalition to End
Homelessness will be on display along with a mural created by residents of
Lancaster County Youth Intervention Center.
Girls on
the Run and Lancaster Creative Factory invite you to O'Crocs Window of
Awareness, designed by artist, Kevin Lehman, opening at Millersville's Ware
Center, 42 N. Prince St., beginning on Lancaster City's First Friday, November
2nd from 5-8 PM. This exhibits ends Thursday, November 15, following The
National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Benefit Concert sponsored by the
Lancaster County Coalition to End Homelessness.
Little stated, “LCF wants this event to be fun
and an educational experience. Youth in
crisis can use artistic expression as a tool for powerful communication.” Little added, “Many of my friends and
neighbors have asked how they might help.
I challenge everyone to take action by forming their own plan addressing
the issue of homelessness in our community.” This is made quick and easy,
inexpensive and fun. Learn more about the
mission of Girls on the Run at www.gotrlancaster.org and about Roberta Little’s The Sole Challenge by contacting her at thesolechallenge@gmail.com.
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