Apostrophe Books in Belmont Shore

WE fans, you’ll love this book store:  Apostrophe Books, 4712 E 2nd St, Long Beach CA.

Artwork for Education is proud to announce that local Belmont Shore book store Apostrophe Books has just begun to stock our greeting cards!

Belmont Shore is a tight knit community, and 2nd Street merchants are especially supportive of local causes. It was actually Meara, the nine year old daughter of Artwork for Education’s Sales Manager Lisa Hain, who convinced them to carry our cards!

Meara lives close to the book store and when she does well in school, Lisa takes her in and lets her pick out a book. Meara was browsing in the store one day, and asked the owner, “Why don’t you carry my mom’s cards? They give money back to schools!”  

That comment sparked a conversation with Lisa, and the store now has a prominent display featuring Artwork for Education cards, that benefit many local schools from Long Beach, Seal Beach and Huntington Beach.

Apostrophe went one step further, and offered a 20% discount to all schools lucky enough to have had a card chosen for their racks – 12 local schools in all!  Each card purchase will make $0.50 for the artist’s school.

Apostrophe Books carries a wide selection of books, cards, journals, stationery and gift wrap. Check them out if you are in the area, and while you are there, buy a greeting card to support a school!

It’s 3 o’clock. Do you know where your kids are?

The school bell rings, kids rush out of school, running with glee that they’re finally free for the day and have the rest of the afternoon to play. That’s just what worries many parents. For those parents, 3pm brings added anxiety as they’re stuck at work and hope their kids don’t get into trouble. Unfortunately for many high-risk youth, left to their own devices, that’s just what is bound to happen without structure or supervision. Here’s some facts about kids left unsupervised after school. That’s why here at Worldwise Education, we’re proud of our partnership with three nonprofit organizations who are helping kids turn those critical hours before their parents come home into a fun and productive time. WE teamed up with each organization to transform their kids’ holiday themed artwork into greeting cards. A portion of the proceeds from every card will help raise money for their programs. Here’s a little bit about each organization:

LA’s BEST	Camp Fire USA Orange County Council	Boys & Girls Clubs of Conejo & Las Virgenes
LA’s BEST provides fun educational programs to more than 28,000 Los Angeles children, ages 5-12, at 180 LAUSD elementary schools with the fewest resources. Each day after school, LA’s BEST’s provides its students with snacks, homework assistance, learning activities, and fun in dance, sports, cooking and arts. The best part is that the program is absolutely free to parents who don’t have to worry about their kids during critical hours when if left alone, are likely to get into trouble.	Camp Fire USA Orange County Council’s mission is to build strong, confident youth: “today’s kids, tomorrow’s leaders”. The Orange Council provides after school programs, summer residential and day camps, family and teen education and training of sitters for special needs children to over 4500 children. CFUSAOC is able to make a positive impact on youth and their families in Orange County.	Boys & Girls Clubs of Conejo & Las Virgenes’s mission is to enhance the lives of our youth by providing them with a positive before and after school environment which includes programs that develop values, skills, good health, citizenship, character and leadership. This year we have served over 1000 children and their families by providing quality enrichment, educational support, and professional care.
Cover image was created by Diana, age 11, from The Accelerated School in Los Angeles, CA.	Cover image was created by Jacqueline, age 12, from Yorba Middle School in Orange, CA.	Cover image was created by club member Katherine, age 13, from the Boys & Girls Club of Los Cerritos in Thousand Oaks, CA.
Click to view LA’s BEST cards »	Click to view Camp Fire USA Orange County Council cards »	Click to view Boys & Girls Clubs of Conejo & Las Virgenes cards »

Momlogic.com features Artwork for Education!

WE fans, you’ll love this article! Your Kid’s Artwork Raises $ for School

	WE was thrilled to meet momlogic.com at the California Women’s Conference in Long Beach last month. Momlogic.com is an online magazine “for thinking moms who don’t have time to think.” Well they had enough time to think that Artwork For Education® is a great idea for moms! These are moms who want to stay connected to each other and the world around them. Visit their website at www.momlogic.com.

A proud dad on Game Show Network

I hope you’ve seen our video blog with Jeremy. Jeremy created the Cake-a-saurus -the cake-eating stegosaurus who helps you celebrate your birthday. Jeremy’s dad works for Game Show Network’s Oodles. GSN Radio hosts Bob Goen (remember him from Entertainment Tonight?) and Marianne Curan (his wife… and an actress) discussed the impact of Worldwise Education’s Artwork for Education program in helping keep arts alive in schools. We’re thrilled that the GSN Radio audience now knows about us! Watch the video and then check out the GSN games.

Find out about Game Show Network Radio: http://www.gsn.com/cgi/radio/

A Beautiful Cause

Toni Childs is using her talents to help others see the power in their true beauty. Cause: You’re Beautiful is a simple, but powerful song to send a message to the women of the world to intently listen to their heart’s desire and take action on their calling. To find our inner desire, it’s not only essential to listen to our own heart, but also to learn from the experience and passion of others.

Toni asked twenty-five inspirational leaders who risked their personal happiness for a cause worth more to join in her mission. Toni selected WE CEO Charles Paul as one of those inspirational leaders. With a desire to provide teachers with the critical resources they need to engage their students, Charles gave up a life of leisure sailing the seas to start Worldwise Education.

Charles' Schooner

Each of the 25 leaders will post columns on the site to inspire others to take their own risks to live an intentional life. As you’ll read in Charles’s first column, How to Change the World in 10 Easy Steps, Charles’s positive enthusiasm is what got WE off the ground. However, it’s YOU, our Worldwise community, who is helping it grow and flourish. Get involved and we promise you, together WE can make a difference in the lives of the next generation.

Click to find out how you can Change the World in 10 Easy Steps

Cake-a-Saurus!

Jeremy was thrilled to learn that his Cake-a-saurus, the cake-eating Stegosaurus, could be sent to anyone in the country, even around the world! Artwork for Education is perfect for everyone: kids love to play and create new things, schools love that it’s a healthy fundraiser, and parents feel pride from their kid’s creative accomplishments. Although kids are happy to learn that the cards make their school money, what makes them really excited is being able to creatively express their passions.

Charles Paul video on what what sets us apart

Check out this video with Charles talking about why customers love our product!

Think Outside The Box

Gulliver, Age 10

“When children get acknowledged for their work, it means the world to them!” That’s what Kathy Barbro, from Dixie Canyon School, said she liked most about our programs.  You can check out the cards from Dixie Canyon Students at our Artwork for Education site. Each card has the first name of the student artist, their age and school printed on the back.  The high-quality paper and bright inks we use make the kids’ creative expressions pop from the page.  It is no wonder that retail stores we talk to want to sell our cards!

If a child card is selected for our retail program, we send a certificate of achievement to honor the student.  At Dixie Canyon, they distribute certificates at the assemblies so the whole school shares the pride and acknowledges the artists.  Why is it important to acknowledge our artists?  Because creative expression is an essential part in child development and learning.

Through our program, art is celebrated in the schools not only because the kids’ work is highlighted in a special way, but it also provides the school much needed revenue.  This helps schools see a tangible value in the near-term and promotes the long-term benefits of providing art instruction to students.

It is unfortunate that so many schools are cutting art programs because it is not formally tested through standardized testing.  In reality, art programs are critical in helping children to think creatively in all subject – science, math, history.. to create our future leaders and inventors of the world.  Just imagine where we would be if we didn’t have creative thinkers in science who didn’t imagine new possibilities!  Art inspires inventiveness and helps children to understand other subject more clearly, from visualizing chemical bonds to building vocabulary.  We want to encourage creative thinkers who think outside the box.

Need inspiration for your kids next art projects?  You can also get wonderful ideas at Kathy’s Blog, Art Projects for Kids.  Start your art journals today.

P.S.  At Worldwise Education, we think it’s important for kids to express themselves creatively, even if they sometimes make mistakes.  After all, it’s much easier to correct than create.  So don’t let small mistakes keep you from coming up with your next big idea!

We want to know what you think!

Welcome to the Artwork for Education blog. Through our school fundraising program, we have a large community of students, parents, teachers, school administrators, and artists.  However, we’re also part of a community of like-minded organizaitons trying to do good and make positive social change.

So Join Us. You are at the heart of our growth, success and ability to help schools who desperately need more resources. We want to hear from you. Tell us about your favorite cards, artists’ inspirations,  how your school used the funds you raised from the fundraiser, how your kids felt when they saw their art transformed into a high-quality greeting card that they could buy at Whole Foods…we want to hear it all!  You can also be a part of our community of fans on our new Facebook, Twitter and UTube sites.

P.S. Think Facebook is only for kids? Adults are the fastest growing age range on Facebook because they’ve had more time to build their network. Facebook allows you to connect with friends from high school and college, neighbors, colleagues, other parents, teachers, your favorite Starbucks barista, helpful librarian… You get the idea. It’s an easy way to stay in touch because all you have to do is update your own page with what you’re doing and thinking. It’s a perfect place to let friends know that your child is a published artist through Artwork for Education!