What working at the We Care Arts store means to Mr. & Mrs. Scholl

Please join us in congratulating Mr. & Mrs. Scholl, who are members of our We Care Arts family, who have come together to make their own family. We were blessed to have the opportunity to speak with them this past Monday to learn about the wonderful time they have had with their jobs at the Town and Country WCA store. This newlywed couple met during their time at We Care Arts. Jen would sometimes go to the back to work on clay sculptures so she could talk to Aaron. After getting to know one another they got married on June 17, 2017.

Aaron and Jen both enjoy working at the Town and Country store while also working other places.  Jen has been working at the store since it opened in October 2015. Aaron recently started working there toward the end of July 2017. Their schedules vary depending on the month. Jen works on Mondays and weekends. Aaron works two Tuesdays every month and 1 Thursday a month. They have various responsibilities during their work hours. Jen interacts with customers to give them an insight on what happens at WCA. She also works the cash register, keeps the store clean, and moves merchandise around to make sure that the store has a fresh look. Aaron is responsible for greeting people, telling them all WCA does, and writing thank you notes for people that have made purchases. Aaron also said he gets used to dust a lot since he is the tallest person that works there. In addition to working at Town and Country they both have other jobs. Aaron works cleaning office buildings. Jean works as a Wavier provider for a 17 year old girl. Together Jen and the teen work on living skills, homework, and social outings.

Being able to work at Town and Country has given Aaron and Jen a lot of enjoyment.  Jen said, “I enjoy spreading the WCA message about how much art helps people, including myself. Working at Town and Country also allowed me to be able to get my own apartment in 2016 because of the additional income. It’s really neat seeing people get excited about the art we make at WCA.” Aaron also loves seeing other people’s artwork getting sold and having interaction with the customers. The customers at the shop really enjoy knowing that the client who made the product will get a percentage of the purchase price. The teachers at WCA work with each client, whatever their abilities, so they can have products in the store to sell. The store has been a great addition for WCA because of the outreach and education to the public that has been spread. The busiest time of the year for the store is the beginning of fall until the end of the New Year. Aaron said, “People are surprised to learn that we take special orders. For example, we make adult bibs and if someone wants a special color/pattern, we can accommodate that. People also come to us with an idea or picture and we do our best to replicate their vision.

We hope you can come to the store to enjoy all of the amazing works of art that are for sale as well as meet Aaron, Jen, and all of the other wonderful employees!

Town and Country WCA Store Hours:

Monday – Thursday 4-7

Friday 12-7

Saturday 10-7

Sunday 12-5

What a SUCCESS Arts and Drafts was!!!!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who took the time to help with our 5k and Arts and Drafts events that happened earlier this month. We also want to thank all of your who came out to support us. You truly contributed to making these events successful. This year marks our 2nd year doing our 5k Run, Stroll, and Roll followed by our Arts and Drafts Fest. We are excited to share that we tripled the amount of money we made last year. From the two events we raised over $17,800 which was an 18% increase from last year. We wish you could have seen what an amazing time everyone had.

It put a smile on our faces seeing people enjoy their time hanging out, getting tattoos, and having some beverages. People also enjoyed listening to live music from various live bands and an amazing performance by "Signing Hands". They are a group of clients at We Care Arts who are learning sign language. Please click the link to watch their wonderful performance: https://youtu.be/ByKwq3cFbU8

Please join us in giving a big thank you to all our sponsors, vendors, tattoo artists, and band members who helped to make this event such a success. They helped provide such a fun place for the people in the community to come and join. For those of you who came to this year's event please feel free to comment with your thoughts and suggestions for next year. We look forward to hearing your voices and it will truly help with planning for next year!!!

Emerald Arts Party

Get your Irish on at the Dublin Pub on Tue, Aug 22 from 5:30 to 8:30 pm to enjoy the creative songwriting and the Celtic musical energy of Dulahan while helping We Care Arts!

For your $25 ticket, you will enjoy drink specials and a delicious Irish buffet of heavy appetizers, and use your Irish luck to win one of our wonderful Silent Auction baskets! Make sure you mark your calendar for next Tuesday. It's in less than one week! This would be the perfect night to relax and enjoy drinks, appetizers, music, and a silent auction with others. Please share this with anyone you feel who may be interested.

For more information on how to buy tickets please click here: https://wecarearts.networkforgood.com/events/3304-we-care-arts-emerald-arts-party 

or call 937-252-3937

SEE YOU TUESDAY!!!!!!

Meet Another Family Member

Meet another member of our amazing We Care Arts family, Theresa Sauter. Our Mallory Holler felt blessed to have the opportunity to interview her on Monday and learn about her hobbies and interests as well as hearing her enthusiasm for spreading the word of We Care Arts and who we are.

Theresa Sauter spent all of her life here in the Dayton area. She has one older sister whom she is very close to. She attended Centerville High School and graduated in 2007. After that she went on to Sinclair Community College studying Liberal Arts. This was her choice of major because she had a dream of becoming a writer for the newspaper. Theresa enjoys engaging in all kinds of activities such as hanging out with friends, going to movies, shopping,  and going on picnics. She also truly enjoys scrapbooking and playing video games during her free time.

     Theresa first came to We Care Arts with her class at Centerville High School. Then she started coming through the Adult Transition Program through the school. Later she started coming to WCA regularly in June 2016.
Some of her favorite types of art to be involved with are pottery, clay, and painting. During her time here she learned to knit and one of her favorite projects so far was making scarves and purses. Her favorite thing about here is being able to be around all of her wonderful friends and the freedom to express her personality through art.

 Expressing her passion for being here, Theresa said, “We Care Arts is a great place to be and I would recommend this place to anyone because everyone is nice and you get to do things that you don’t normally get to do. We Care Arts helps me with motor skills, I love working with my hands.”

Happy Friendship Day!

World Friendship Day is coming up this month. Come join We Care Arts in showing how much we value friendship. It is this Sunday, August 6th. To us friendship is one of the most important aspects to our non-profit organization because if we didn't have any of the strong relationships and connections that we have with everyone then we wouldn't be who we are today.

According to friendshipday.org, "Human beings are social creatures and have always valued the importance of friends in their lives. To celebrate this noble feeling it was deemed fit to have a day dedicated to friends and friendship. Accordingly, first Sunday of August was declared as a holiday in the U.S. in honor of friends by a proclamation made by the U.S. Congress in 1935. Since then, World Friendship Day is being celebrated every year on the first Sunday in the month of August.
This beautiful idea of celebrating Friendship Day was joyfully accepted by several other countries across the world. And today, many countries including India, celebrate the first Sunday of August as Friendship Day every year. Celebrating Friendship Day in a traditional manner, people meet their friends and exchange cards and flowers to honor their friends. Lot many social and cultural organization too, celebrate the occasion and mark Friendship Day by hosting programs and get together."

First, we want to thank every one of you for your support to We Care Arts. Your friendship and support has helped us in being such a successful non-profit organization. THANKS! This gives us the opportunity to spread the friendship back to you and everyone we know. It is extremely apparent to see how much fun our clients and staff have together talking, laughing, and enjoying all kinds of arts/activities. We are able to interview our clients to write our biographies for the blog. One of the most common things shared is how much they love coming to We Care Arts because of their wonderful friends.HAPPY FRIENDSHIP DAY!!