We Care Arts reaching seniors through the new Creative Aging Project

 How does We Care Arts enhance the lives of seniors through Art?  In February, 2016, we started the Creative Aging Project through the Ohio Arts Council, with the primary goal of bringing joy and happiness into the lives of seniors through art. Several of our art teachers currently visit a variety of nursing homes and senior living centers throughout the Dayton area to teach a wide range of art classes.  

These art classes focus on activities such as painting, water colors, stenciling, painting ceramics, bird house, and many other activities. Many of our classes also create projects based on the current holiday. 



Our talented art teachers travel to several different facilities including 10 Wilmington Place and Dynamic Senior Solutions. Other places fortunate to participate in the program include East Dayton Senior Collaborative, Woodglen, Brookdale, Greater Dayton Premier Management, Brookview Place Apartments, the Alzheimer's Association', Widow's Home, Pinnacle Point and the Senior Center of Northwest Dayton. 

These classes are either taught weekly or monthly, depending on the location. 

Since the program began in February, we have definitely seen how these art classes have helped participants in many ways. 
Participating in the art activities truly help people relax and get their mind off of their everyday concerns. Staff and volunteers have experienced positive observations of changes in the participants attitudes and motivation to join the class from one class to the next, or even from the beginning of class to the end. Sometimes, art students bring their family members to class so they can have fun together and enjoy some relaxing family time. 

One active participant seemed sad during the first couple of classes and has become much happier in recent classes. We  have also noticed that these art classes greatly contribute to the pride of the seniors to independently participate in the projects.

Many of the art classes in the Creative Aging Project are large, with over 40 participants. Occasionally, not everyone is actively involved with the art project but still enjoy interacting and observing their friends. 

As you may already know, We Care Arts depends on a large number of volunteers for our events, projects, and activities. Because of the larger sized classes, the Creative Aging Project can always benefit from more volunteers. 

If you are interested in learning more about We Care Arts or helping to enhance the lives of seniors through this project, please feel free to contact us. 

ICYMI: We Care Arts Annual Auction!

Last month, We Care Arts held our annual spring auction.  The auction is the single largest internal fundraiser held by We Care, and this year was no let down.  With over 350 generous guests in attendance, the evening was primed for success from the get go.  This year’s was the highest attendance on record, a massive success for our organization.

Throughout the evening, guests at the Presidential Banquet Center danced to music provided by a DJ, and enjoyed a delicious dinner and drinks.  The main event of the night, the auctions, stimulated great amounts of excitement as guests hope to take home some of the many wonderful donations we received from local sponsors.  Auction items in both the silent and live auctions included projects completed by both our clients and professional artists, one being the beautiful finished Bockrath rug project (more about that collaborative design project

HERE), golf outings at almost every golf course in the Dayton area, deluxe baskets stocked with goodies such as cigars and wine, spa, theater, and restaurant gift cards, all very generously donated by local companies.

 One of the highlights of the auction was receiving donations of around $6,000, more than doubled from last year, solely in bus and Project Mobility passes for our clients, which is a tremendous success.  Many of our clients do not drive, so public transportation is a necessary, but expensive requirement for them to be able to get to We Care and enjoy our programs.   This is consistently the main reason clients are not able to come to We Care, so donations of this nature are supremely and directly beneficial to our clients.  Additionally, many guests volunteered to sponsor clients for the year, paying the cost of their attendance at We Care.

All of us here at We Care would like to extend the most sincere of thank you's to all of our donors and guests, we could not do what we do without your support!  Cheers to another fantastically successful year at We Care Arts!