Season's Greetings Winter 2021

Season’s Greetings! 

Please join me in supporting our little buddies 

Through thick and thin, Art Buddies is there offering free creative mentor programming and outreach for our children from communities experiencing poverty.  And it is only possible with your donation.

Art Buddies is more joyful and meaningful than ever! This year we are providing free one-to-one programming for over 300 kids.

• In response to the pandemic we are reaching hundreds of scholars with our new Art Buddies Penpal Program, which includes 10 weeks of letters and crafts to and from our Penpal buddy pairs. This program makes our children who are Distance Learning feel connected and important. This new program has proven to be an incredible success in these trying times.

• For 27 years Art Buddies has brought creativity, connection, and JOY to thousands of elementary scholars with our in-person programming. Our joyful and free semester long Character Creation Program brings one-to-one creative mentoring to scholars from the highest-need schools.

• In the last two years, Art Buddies has brought over 20,000 Activity Kits to children at Head Start, Minneapolis and St Paul Public Schools, homeless shelters and encampments, and community outreach. It is important for children to know that their ideas and creativity matter!

For in-person programming, we are focused on health and safety with mandatory masks, vaccine requirements and social distancing.

Thanks to your generosity, each of our programs are provided to our communities experiencing poverty completely free of charge. 

Here is where your dollars might go! 

$5000 Activity Book and Kit supplies for Community Outreach

$2000 Stamps for a semester of Art Buddies Penpals

$1000 Technology for Art Buddies Operations

$500 Art supplies for Character Creation Program

$100 Crayons and stickers for Art Buddies Community Outreach 

$50 Big poster board for Art Buddies Programs

$20 Origami Paper for Art Buddies Penpals 

Join me in giving generously to bring connection, encouragement, inspiration, creativity, and joy to our little buddies today! 

Heidi Rich 

Executive Director

And please check out our social media or website to see the JOY in action! @artbuddies

It's back! - Character Creation Programming 2021

For 28 years Art Buddies has brought creativity, connection, and JOY to thousands of elementary scholars with our in-person programming. Our joyful and free semester long Character Creation Program brings one-to-one creative mentoring to scholars from the highest-need schools.

This fall we were requested to return to our beloved school partner - Whittier International Elementary. We have a group of 5 buddies and 5 volunteers working one on one to dream up unique characters inspired by a problem the scholar see's in the world. For in-person programming, we are focused on health and safety with mandatory masks, vaccine requirements, and social distancing.

Our new Penpal Program

In response to the pandemic, Art Buddies created a new program for our scholars who are participating in distance learning, and for the classrooms and schools where we cannot be in person. Just this past year we have reached over 500 scholars. This new program pairs students and mentors - following our traditional one-to-one mentorship mission, and includes 10 weeks of letters and crafts to and from our Penpal buddy pairs. This program makes our children who are Distance Learning feel connected and important. Their ideas and feelings matter! This new program has proven to be an incredible success in these trying times.

At the end of our 10 weeks, we host an hour long in-person Penpal party where mentors and buddies can meet each other to create a bright and beautiful sign. Designed by local Artist Jaimie Chismar of All Are Welcome Here, the decorated signs then fill the hallways of the school - celebrating creativity and connection.

Find more pictures of our Penpal program on our gallery page: https://www.artbuddies.org/galleries

Remember when you were a kid?.... Give to the Max 2021

Art Buddies Art Administrator, Mari Marks Mondanelli

Remember back to when you were a kid… All those incredible, wild and creative ideas floating in your head?! Now imagine the power of having a creative mentor really listen, engage, and encourage that creative spark with you every week. There's no stopping what you could do! 

Art Buddies has provided free and meaningful creative mentor programming to thousands of Twin Cities children for 28 years. That is a whole lot of creative spark. A whole lot of crayons and glue. 

Imagine being a kid in a pandemic… you are isolated from your friends and community. When you return to school it is very different. But that mentor program is still there for you. Familiar. Kind. Encouraging. Through safe in-person programming at your school or a distance learning Penpal program, your creativity and receiving kind mentorship make the hard days better. Every week you get to hear from your mentor, you might receive a letter and craft every week at your shelter, encampment or home. Art buddies is there for you.

Art Buddies has been there for thousands of Twin Cities children throughout these challenging last two years with our innovative programs adapted to what the kids need right now.

We need your help. Help us be there for our kids. All of our programs are free to kids in our highest need areas. But only with your help. 

Please join us in being there for Twin Cities children. Please give generously to Art Buddies!!
Art Buddies.org/donate

Thank you,
Mari Marks Mondanelli
Art Buddies Art Administrator