The Paint and Strive Backpack Drive at The Juice Box Public House last Friday in Centralia was a hit with parents and kids as artistic activities and free backpacks and supplies were available.
The event, organized by Ashley Stewart and Emily Bryant, offered stations for youths to engage with different kinds of art including coloring pages, an opportunity to paint their own canvas, a face painting station, an area for making their own bookmarks, printmaking and a collaborative art piece.
While kids could participate in any art-making station of their choice, they could also chat with local artists and learn from them. Kids got to pick a free backpack and fill it with school supplies.
“Seeing all the kids happy with everything that we are able to provide for them, and seeing them be so concentrated and interested in what they’re doing, is awesome and it’s an awesome feeling,” Stewart said.
While Bryant and Stewart collaborated to bring the event to fruition, Bryant gave Stewart credit for the idea.
“Ashley was kind of the initiator on being able to bring it together, and I’m just bringing up all of the art pieces and getting all the artists together. But she’s the big driver to get the backpack and supplies,” she said.
To make the drive happen, Stewart went to local businesses and asked for sponsorships and also advertised that they were collecting supplies and backpacks. Even as the event was well underway, people were still stopping in to drop off backpacks for the drive.
“I’ve been working out in Tacoma and volunteering with the kids out there, and we’ve been doing a lot of youth events, but I wanted to do it in my community, too. I was born and raised here,” Stewart said.
If any backpacks and supplies were left over after the event, the pair decided they would donate them to the Boys & Girls Club. If the club is full, they planned to give them to thrift stores or any other secondhand place where families could access the bags and supplies at low or no cost.
“I know a lot of people with a lot of kids and there are some people who can’t afford backpacks, and so I want to be able to provide it for them. And I just wanted us to come together as a community and be able to do that for us,” Stewart said.
“Thinking about when I was a kid, I personally didn't have these sorts of things,” Bryant added. “This nourishes my own inner child that understands that if we didn’t have these things, I wouldn't have been inspired and do the things I do now. Trying to continue that and create memories for people where they’re collaborating, hanging out with family or finding a new friend, that makes it all worth it.”
Any monetary donations made during the event will go to fund an outdoor education field trip at the Boys & Girls Club.
The pair hopes to continue doing outreach programs in the future, maintaining the focus on art but shifting the goal of the event for whatever the community needs most at the time.
“I think this is just so foundational for young kids that are on the edge of liking or not liking art and thinking they might not be good enough. It takes this sort of interaction and practice to feel comfortable so I definitely want to keep doing this a lot more,” Bryant said.
The art pieces created by the kids will hang in The Juice Box’s art gallery for the month of September.
