youth and senior groups to provide an up close look at quilting and Road to California. Carolyn Reese assigned associate Renee Hicks to organize free tours for interested groups with popular vendors and exhibits.
Home schoolers from Dehesa Charter School in the Escondido School District participated in the 2016 community outreach program at Road. Dehesa Charter Schools has 8 learning centers in San Diego, Orange, and Riverside County. Regional Manager Traci Lockman accompanied the students on their tour. A member of the home schooling community for over 20 years, Traci identifies herself as a “self-taught, beginner quilter.” She belongs to the Riverside quilt guild.
Members of the Marsella and Cardon families made up the Dehusa group. Mom Caryn Marsella serves as the art director for the Riverside Art Museum and has done some quilting in the past. She was joined on the tour with her two daughters: Zoe, age 15, and Abby, age 14.
Erika Cardon accompanied her 3 children, Olivia (9), Lily (6), and Lizzie (3). Erika says she is a “medium” quilter who enjoys designing quilts.
Renee arranged for the tour to meet and receive special hands-on demonstrations from Charlie’s EZ Mat Olfa Distributor, Flynn Quilt Frame Co., Schneck, Clover, and Handiquilter.
In-between the visits to vendors, the students viewed the Marie White Masterpiece Award and Best of Show quilts; Eqyptian quilts; and the National Parks Quilt Special Exhibit.
[caption id="attachment_4055" align="aligncenter" width="336"]
Best of Show Road 2016 – Silk Road Sampler by Melissa Sobotka[/caption]
The students received a bag full of goodies filled with quilting tools from the vendors. Best of all, they were inspired by what they saw and have a greater appreciation for the quilting community. Dehesa Charter School thanked Road to California for this wonderful opportunity.
Road is hoping to expand the community outreach program next year. If you know of a youth group or senior center that would benefit from Road’s Community Outreach during Road 2017, please contact our office.]]>
Posts Tagged ‘Community Outreach’
Road’s Community Outreach
Thursday, May 19th, 2016Community Outreach for Road 2016
Friday, November 6th, 2015Road to California believes in giving back to the community.
Carolyn Reese, Matt Reese, and the entire Road to California has a long tradition of helping those in need.
Road supports charities like Pomona Valley Hospital’s Robert and Beverly Lewis Family Cancer Care Center Endowment Fund
and Quilted in Honor, a charity benefiting veterans and their families.
Road also supports quilting friends with their charities, helping to raise money for John Flynn’s bike rides to benefit MS
or the granddaughter of our friend, Kathleen of Starr Design Fabrics, who is suffering from Cystinosis.
For Road 2016, this giving spirit is being extended to allow youth and older citizens the chance to personally experience this outstanding quilt show.
Carolyn has enlisted the help of her friends and fellow quilters, Bonnie Rangel and Rene Hicks, to organize free docent tours of Road to California 2016 for youth groups and senior citizen retirement homes. These tours will include seeing and learning about the winning quilts up close, meeting with award winning quilters, and learning about quilting tools from established vendors. Rene said that she is happy to be a part of arranging this community outreach because she “enjoys seeing the joy on the guest’s faces when they experience for the first time quilts coming to life for them at Road to California.” Last year, Innovative Horizons Charter School, accepted the invitation to attend one of these tours. They met with Eleanor Burns (whom they already knew about and were big fans of her) and the Egyptian Quilters as well as have special access to exhibits and using quilt tools.
What is the motivation for Road to extend this community outreach? Sharing Inspiration. Carolyn Reese remarked, “It’s important to let the younger experience the different aspects of quilting and learn that it’s much more than making blankets.” And for the retirement home residents, “It gives our respected, older generation a chance to leave their regular routine and see how the quilting industry has evolved from what they might have been familiar with.”
To extend the opportunity for this community outreach, we need your help. If you know of youth groups (schools, 4H, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Campfire, etc.) or retirement homes that are local to Ontario, California and that you feel would benefit from participating , please contact Bonnie Rangel at bonnie.rangel@yahoo.com to arrange for a tour.
Sharing the love of quilting is a wonderful way to outreach to the community, don’t you agree?
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