Teddy Anderson: Little Art Galleries
Teddy created two little art galleries that were placed in parks in Mount Washington, KY. Teddy wanted to provide places dedicated to the sharing of art with children, teens, and adults. They added supplies that are easy for children to use and take home to work on as well. This included chalk, watercolor and canvases, clay/Play-Doh, and other supplies that are easily washable and child-friendly. Teddy hopes to inspire community artists of all ages. On the project's Facebook page community, members have a place to share the art they have created. The parks and recreation department of Mount Washington will be maintaining the little art galleries, and the community is invited and encouraged to add supplies and art to the galleries.
Hannah Britt: Auburn Library Community Outreach
Hannah worked to improve the quantity and quality of books at the Auburn Public Library along with sharing information in the community about all that is offered at the library. To teach the patrons how to use the library, she created a “matchmaking service” that matches books to people based on genre, author, etc. This allowed new patrons, like children, to find books they are interested in, introducing the importance of the library. She also ran a community book drive to get more children’s books circulating in her library. Through her project more community members were introduced to services at the library and library usage increased.
Amanda Carrithers: Wickland Children's Book
Amanda wrote a children’s picture book, “Wickland from A to Z”, to teach kids about an important historic home in the Bardstown community. Amanda learned how to produce a book and get it published. The book is available at her local library, at Wickland, and as an e-book. She also has the book registered with the Library of Congress. Through her book she teaches history in a fun and age-appropriate way. It also encourages visits to Wickland so children can learn more. She created a sticker program to track how many children went to Wickland after reading her book. She hosted a book launch at Wickland and participated in storytime at her library.
NancyAna Cremona: Kentuckiana Volunteens Opportunities Hub
NancyAna created a website and data repository called Kentuckiana
VolunTeens that facilitates matching teens seeking service
opportunities with volunteer opportunities within their community. She
reached out to local volunteer organizations and gathered their
volunteer needs. Then local teens can register as volunteers and
search and register for available opportunities. This model is
mutually beneficial for both teens and nonprofits looking for a simple
way to get volunteers. The website has been shared via many social
media platforms as well as local school clubs and youth organizations.
She is also using local student groups to help run the site in
perpetuity.
Katie Green: Little Library
Katie created an outdoor reading/library space at her school and created a program to encourage co-reading, reading with another person (i.e. reading with a parent, friend, teacher/specialist, etc.). Katie is dyslexic and knows first-hand the importance of co-reading for comprehension. She shared information about co-reading with all the classes at her school and served as a co-reader for early-education students. She had 50 students participating in co-reading.
Claudia Johnson: Lending a Helping Paw
Claudia built a dog house shaped donation box to help care for the animals of Edmonson County. Due to funding issues, Edmonson County’s animals are being housed by the Bowling Green-Warren County Humane Society. She wanted to provide resources for the Humane Society and to help control the overpopulation of animals in Edmonson County. She placed the donation box (with an item wish list) in the county seat of her county to increase visibility. In addition to the items, increased community awareness about how many animals Edmonson County transports to the Bowling Green-Warren County Humane Society and how much the county has grown to depend on another county to care for their animals.
Kirsten Sexton: Animal Training and Agility Course
Kirsten built an agility course at her local animal shelter for
the community to use to train dogs and for the dogs to get exercise.
This served a need in her community as the closest fenced in space
for dogs was 45 minutes away. She worked with her local shelter to
make sure that she was providing a safe environment where dogs can
run off-leash. She chose sustainable materials so that the course
will be weather proof and will be in use for many years.