Suzanne Gibson, VOLUNTEER SINCE AUGUST 2009

How did you hear about CoachArt?   I heard of CoachArt through an on-line orientation announcement.  I did a little research and checked my schedule and a week later I was at the L.A. Office in an orientation meeting.

CoachArt PARTICIPANT OSCAR B., AGE 6, FROM OAKLAND was one of many chronically ill children who had an opportunity to take to the ice during “Friday Night Ice” at the Oakland Ice Center January 20.

(Oakland, CA – January 31, 2012) — Approximately 20 chronically ill children from the East Bay area affiliated with CoachArt, an Oakland nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for children with chronic and life-threatening illnesses, and their siblings, by providing free lessons in the arts and athletics, had an opportunity to try ice skating and other ice-related activities, during “Friday Night Ice” at the Oakland Ice Center on January 20.
In partnership with Special Skaters, a program affiliated with United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) of the Golden Gate, and with volunteers to help the skaters from San Francisco-based EventBrite, CoachArt’s participants were able to experience ice skating, many for the first time. They also had fun playing games such as mini Olympics, kite flying on the ice and broom ball. “It’s always a thrill to see our students experience an activity like ice skating that’s new and exciting,” said Ashley Fontanetta, regional director of CoachArt’s Oakland office. “United Cerebral Palsy is one of our health care partners and when we reached out to their Special Skaters program at the Oakland Ice Center, they went out of their way to accommodate our group and provide a fun and engaging night of skating complete with bubble blowing on the ice and a pizza party!”

EventBrite, a San Francisco-based company that enables people all over the world to plan, promote, and sell out any event; discover events, and share the events they are attending with the people they know, organized 15 staff members to volunteer by assisting the skaters. “We couldn’t have had a successful experience on the ice without the aid of the EventBrite volunteers who helped with everything from assisting the children on the ice, to organizing the pizza party,” Fontanetta continued. “CoachArt’s volunteers are the backbone of our programs. We rely on their assistance to allow us to offer the wide variety of programs that help chronically ill children take their minds off of their illness and just have fun.”

CoachArt’s mission is to improve the quality of life for children with chronic and life-threatening illnesses and their siblings, by providing free lessons in the arts and athletics. CoachArt matches volunteer mentors with its students to provide lessons based on the child’s preferred activity.

For the past ten years, CoachArt has served more than 2,500 children and has managed 15,000 donated volunteer hours consisting of 665 volunteers, and more than 78 program partners. To find out how to become involved with CoachArt as a volunteer mentor, or to take part in the activities, please visit www.CoachArt.org or call 510-992-3485.

Bert Yip, VOLUNTEER SINCE November 2011

 
Bert Yip is one of CoachArt’s newer volunteers, but right after his Orientation in late November 2011, Bert jumped in to become the Bay Area’s first matched mentor. Bert and Ricky have been making art together since then, even engaging Ricky’s family to be creative with them.

How did you hear about CoachArt?  I heard about CoachArt from Lauren Banister (a rad friend), who posted
about it on her facebook.

How long have you been a CoachArt Volunteer? For about a month now, I’m new!

What made you decide to volunteer with CoachArt? I had been wanting to volunteer and contribute more, and was actually looking into various opportunities to do so when I saw that Lauren was looking for volunteers… it was perfect timing.

What do you like most about volunteering with CoachArt? Interacting with the kids and their siblings.  Getting to share our love for creating together is pretty rad!

What type of activities have you done at CoachArt? So far, we have worked on drawing exercises and making polymer clay sculptures. We are starting a paint and sculpture diorama project next.

Why do you volunteer with CoachArt? I have always enjoyed doing what I can to make people happier, so being a volunteer helps fill that hankering to help.

What advice would you give to a new CoachArt volunteer? Hmmm…Just to have fun with it, and share what you love!

What would you like for our readers to know about you? I am hopeful for humankind and the future of our world.

Carla Yarbrough, VOLUNTEER SINCE AUGUST 2011

How did you hear about CoachArt?   My friend joined CoachArt as Volunteer Supervisor this year and we were talking about her new position. I was really excited for her, but when she began talking about the program I was immediately drawn to work with the children.

POMONA, Calif. – Although Saturday called for an early morning practice, the Cal Poly Pomona women’s basketball team made sure to conserve enough energy to challenge the players stepping onto the court next.Those competitors were 18 kids affiliated with CoachArt, a local non-profit organization that offers lessons in the arts and athletics to patients with chronic illnesses.

“It was a special day for everybody,” Broncos’ senior Rosslyn Beard said. “A lot of the kids don’t get a chance to play every day and they don’t always have a normal childhood because of the illnesses they are dealing with. To see them running around and smiling Saturday, it was awesome.”

The session organized by the Broncos featured many different activities for the children, with CPP combining both instructional and competitive games for the young basketball enthusiasts.

“The women’s basketball team was amazing!” said Carla Yarbrough, one of CoachArt’s lead volunteers at Saturday’s program. “I was particularly impressed with their patience in helping our youngest children through the activities. In talking with the parents afterward, I heard a lot of them say that this was the best CoachArt event their child had ever attended.”

Once all of the running, passing, dribbling and shooting came to a close, the Broncos got to hang out with the children and share stories.

“We cannot thank the team enough,” Yarbrough said. “The children had so much fun and their parents were so grateful. We hope this can be a regular event because the Broncos’ women’s basketball team is such a wonderful group.”

The CPP squad also took time to sign water bottles and take photos with the kids. Each child that participated in Saturday’s activities also received a special certificate of completion signed by Broncos’ head coach Danelle Bishop.

Full article can be found here.

Below is an article that ran in the Piedmonter and Montclarion papers highlighting CoachArt’s involvement in the event.

How did you hear about CoachArt?  Through idealist.org

How long have you been a CoachArt Volunteer?  Since September, 2011.

What made you decide to volunteer with CoachArt? I wanted to volunteer with chronically ill children.

What do you like most about volunteering with CoachArt?  A couple of things; for one I want to go into the mental health field, and I heard that it’s good to have related volunteer experience for the graduate school application. Secondly, I had lots of spare time, and felt like I wanted to get involved with a community of some sort, doing something that feels significant to me. Lastly, I’ve done lots of art in the past, and when I began I was going through some artist’s block. I thought, “Well, I have some good art skills, why not use those skills by sharing them with some kids who’d probably love to learn them?” That way I could still involve art in my life, and see the value of the skills I already had, while at the same time getting the new experience of facilitating workshops for kids who probably wanted a break from the routine created by their illnesses.

What type of activities have you done at CoachArt?  I’ve mostly done stick puppets. I’ve also done various drawing games, and once a workshop getting rubbings from different textures.

What has been the single most impacting experience working with a CoachArt student?  There was a kid in the dialysis unit who I played a drawing game with, where we would switch off drawing different objects on a piece of paper to create a scene. It was exciting to do because, as he was a little older, we got each other’s visual jokes, and really got the chance to make a scene that was exciting and strange. We barely exchanged any words, but I really felt like I connected with this kid, and we both enjoyed each other’s contributions.

Why do you volunteer with CoachArt?  Basically, it feels like a good use of my time, and it’s fun to be around the other volunteers and the kids. Also, it’s a great challenge to come up with activities that I think the kids will enjoy; that whole process of coming up with ideas and seeing how they pan out is one I get excited about.

If you had to write an ad to recruit volunteers for CoachArt, how would it read?  Do you have hobbies you enjoy? Do you also like kids? Well then, friend, why not volunteer with Coach Art, where you’ll get the opportunity to provide children with chronic illnesses and their siblings a break from the routine of medical treatment by hosting workshops for them, in an activity of your choice. Art, music, cooking, dance—whatever your passion may be—why not share your skills with some very eager students, who, even in the midst of dealing with chronic illnesses, can feel that uniquely human joy of creativity!

What advice would you give to a new CoachArt volunteer?  Most of the activities I’ve done have been for younger kids (ages 7-11ish), so it’s good to have activities that they’ll enjoy. This age group generally seems to enjoy activities that are fairly structured, and that use a variety of techniques and materials; like using glue, scissors, sequence, paper, etc., all in one activity. Also, depending on the project, it’s been helpful to have a variety of things to choose from, like for the puppets I have templates for warriors, princesses, and dragons. Also, although most of the kids will probably jump right into the activities, some of them will be too shy to tell you they need help, so it’s good to pay attention to everyone’s progress.

How has CoachArt affected your life?  It’s given me weekly challenges, coming up with art activities that seem cool to me and are appropriate for the age range I’m dealing with. It’s given me a chance to meet some great kids, and I’ve found it can be really fun to interact with them. It’s also fun to teach them new things. I also really like working with all the volunteers and the staff. On the whole, it’s given me something to do that feels like a good use of my time.

Would you recommend CoachArt to friends?  I would recommend it to my friends. It’s great fun for you and the kids. It feels good to feel helpful. Because kids are so funny, being around them connects you to a great sense of humor you probably haven’t experienced in a while.

What other volunteer activities are you involved in?  I recently helped out at a meditation retreat, and I’m looking to get involved with additional organizations that are more about mental health.

What would you like for our readers to know about you?  Not having done much work with kids, I kind of expected it to be a challenge for me to connect with them. Sometimes it can be, but mostly, it’s been really rewarding because they are usually so fun, and so eager to interact with you.

How can CoachArt improve its’ services?  Sometimes I wish I could have a more regular volunteer schedule; I would do it at least once a week if that were possible. Also, although I know the organization’s goal is to help kids with chronic physical illnesses, I am of the opinion that mind and body are very linked, and that kids with “mental” diagnoses would equally love Coach Art. I would love to see Coach Art expand into that area, even if it would involve extra training.

In September 2010, Tamika founded a non-profit program called Rize Above Media with the support of her husband Scott Ellsworth, a 16-year graphic design professional. Rize Above’s mission is developing positive media programs for at-risk & under served youth to excel in school and beyond. The initiative is a heartfelt desire to affect the digital media industry one student, one organization at a time by planting seeds of positive media and a love for technology to under served communities and their youth.

In October 2011, Rize Above Media became an official program partner of CoachArt. Tamika will be leading Rize Above’s first workshop in conjunction with CoachArt at the Discover CoachArt event on 11/19 in Oakland, CA.

 How did you hear about CoachArt? CoachArt contacted me thru a staff member who came to one of our workshops in Richmond, CA 

What type of activities have you done/will you do at CoachArt? We will be facilitating classes related to digital media arts. Video gaming, mobile applications, graphic design, film production & digital audio.

Is there any advice you would you give to other CoachArt Program Partners? Never take for granted the positive impact you make in the lives of youth.

 What would you like others to know about you? I have a passion for seeing youth reach their full potential in life and one of my goals, through Rize Above Media, is to help them discover skills and talents they never knew they had.   

Is there anything else you would like to say to others in the CoachArt community? I’m excited about  the CoachArt program and can’t wait to meet more of the youth and adults that make up the CoachArt community.