Kids with no inhibitions could potentially cause stress for the adults who are working with them. But when you see a child walk up to an elderly person in a wheelchair and throw their arms wide open for a hug, you have to smile and love the impulsive action.

Today 58 elementary and middle school kids took their Saturday to serve others. Meeting at Highland Park Community Outreach, Urban Arts hosted the fall service project along with Kids that Rock from Kensington Church.  Splitting into three groups, the kids rotated to an outdoor paint activity, an indoor craft project and a music class.  Once the projects were completed, we loaded up and drove over to the Highland Park Nursing Home where the kids sang three songs and presented the crafts they made to the residents of the home.

Jesus was present and the children's love was abounding!

Hi Friends,
In two months, Urban Arts will be running our fourth year of summer camps in Detroit! We are so blessed to be able to continue this ministry and are only able to do so with the Lord's help, your generous gifts and much needed prayers. :)

Summer camps will run for four weeks this year. We will be partnering with City Mission, Central Detroit Christian, and Highland Park Community Outreach. If you live in the metro Detroit area and are interested in helping during the summer please contact us! The dates for the camps are as follows:

June 27-July 1
July 5-9
July 11-15
July 18-22

Also, included below is a list of items that we need for our camps. Most are food items and craft supplies. If you would like to donate and item please contact us here. Gift cards and cash donations are also helpful as we purchase these supplies.

Supply Needs
1. Performance Dinner @ City Mission
______ taco shells
______ 3 large salsas
______ 2 large boxes tortilla chips..2bags in each box (found at Sam’s Club or Costco. OR large bags from the grocery store.
______ 10 pounds shredded cheese
______ 2 cans of Nacho Sauce (found at SAMS or Gordon’s Food Service)
______3 large sour creams
______ 2 large bags of shredded lettuce (GFS, Sam’s, Costco)
______ Box of tomatoes
______ 10 envelopes of taco seasoning
______ 4 large containers of lemonade mix
______ 3 containers PRE-made brownies (Sam’s/Costco/GFS)
______ 150 9oz. cups
______ 150 plasticware
______ 150 dinner plates
______ 150 bowls
______ dessert plates
______ napkins
______ 6 large aluminum foil pans
______ 6 medium aluminum foil pans
______ 35 pounds meat (or money donated to purchase it)
______ 250-300 individually wrapped ice cream bars
______ 2 large drink containers/dispensers
2. Craft Supplies
_____ 40 bags of polyfill pillow stuffing
_____ 100 pack blank CD’Rs
_____ Glue sticks
3. Snacks/Lunches
______600 granola bars
______ 200-400 Go-gurts
______ 200-400 freeze pops
______ 200-400 fruit snacks
______ 200-400 cheese sticks
______ mac & cheese for 100
______ spaghetti noodles for 100
______ spaghetti sauce for 100
______ hot dogs for 100
______ hot dog buns for 100
______ ranch dressing
______ mustard/ketchup
______oranges/apples
______lemonade or koolaid mix

Please pray for the 200+ kids we will be ministering to this summer! Our theme is "Make Your Mark". We pray that these youth will be trained to live like Jesus and serve Him to "make their mark" on the world they live in.

Grace&Peace,
Katie Beth Hostetter
Director, Urban Art Outreach
www.urbanartoutreach.com

How do you teach youth to serve others? Is it something that comes naturally--putting other people before yourself? Most would laugh and say 'No way!'.  So how to we come by this selfless action and attitude? By knowing Christ. Urban Art volunteers do their best to model a servant's attitude for the youth to see.  Serving is showing others' Christ's unselfish love. What better way to teach youth to serve than to give them the opportunity. 

Saturday was the second "Service Project" day for UA students at HPCO. We partnered with Kids that Rock, a performing arts program from Kensington Community Church.  The children arrived in the morning ready to work! They split into groups and worked on making St. Patrick Day table decorations for the Highland Park Nursing Home as well as practiced several songs they would perform for the residents of the nursing home.   

After lunch, everyone loaded up and caravan-ed to the nursing home. For some kids it was a stretch to walk into such a different environment: seeing elderly people in wheelchairs, smelling different smells, watching nurses take care of individuals who needed extra TLC. But each child who walked into the building knew why they were there and what they needed to do. Share the love of Christ. With each song that was sung and each table decoration that was made with the residents the smiles on the faces of the kids got bigger and bigger. They enjoyed spending their entire Saturday serving others. This is only the beginning of their young lives and we pray that their heart of service will continue to grow as large as the smiles on their faces when they left at the end of the day.

We are so thankful for individuals and small groups who take time to make dinners and goodies for the Urban Art students on Monday evenings. This night, a small group from KCC, made sloppy joes, fruit jello, corn and provided drinks and paper products. Thanks you guys!! It was yummie;)

Monday night was a beautiful, crisp evening downtown. We took the HPCO kids on a "mystery trip" to go ice skating at Campus Martius. The parents were notified and as the kids were piling in the car the excitement was high! Several of the kids had to be told to go back in the house and get warmer clothes on and after that we were bombarded with questions about where and what we were going to be doing.

After serving the kids dinner at HPCO, we drove down Woodward to the outdoor ice skating rink. As the kids were putting on the rented ice skates, two of the boys came up to another leader and I and their face looked so sad. They informed us that they weren't wearing socks. It was winter. I was amazed. Thankfully, I was wearing two pair and the other leader handed hers over to the boys.

 When we got to the ice, I realized that the majority of the kids had never been ice skating before. Some took it slowly, while others jumped right in and enjoyed the slips and falls. I was the most proud of a young boy named Cameron. He was terrified of skating. Just to get in the van to go was a HUGE step for him. Once he got his skates on and stepped onto the ice he began crying. I skated over to him, by that time he was about 1/3 of the way around the rink. As he clutched the railing and took precarious steps with his ice skates we began to pray. Cameron began to calm down and he made it all the way around the rink.  He quickly exited and found a bench near by. I was a little disappointed that he didn't want to give it another try, but I knew he had been terrified. About 15 minutes later, I looked over at the bench and Cameron was gone. The last place I scanned with my eyes was the rink but when I did I saw him clinging to the wall giving it another go. All by himself. I was so proud.  He is learning to trust and conquer his fears.

 By the end of the night, none of the kids wanted to leave. :) I can't wait until they tear up the ice next winter!

Today is a day that has been a long time in coming! HELP-PORTRAIT, started by Jeremy Cowert, has inspired thousands of creative individuals to pool their talent and give back.  A few months ago I learned about H-P through twitter and began searching for photographers and volunteers who would be willing to help.  You can see my previous post here. Well,  it all came together.  The only disappointment: I have been fighting the flu and couldn't get out of bed today. So, everyone rallied and i'm getting text updates and know that it's going great! Today we are shooting family portraits at City Mission for over 20 families! We have 3 photographers, a photo editor on site and some great assistants.  More pictures and a video to come soon!

As soon as I read about Help Portrait on Twitter, I got excited.  Giving the gift of a professional photograph to families who cannot afford a family photo.  This is an event that fits the mission of Urban Arts.  Now how to do it?  I just needed to secure a photographer, a location, a printer, oh yeah, and the people.

The first location that came to mind was City Mission.  Urban Arts partners with them and I know the community could really use a gift of love! The answer from City Mission was "YES!".  So, I secured the location and the people. 

That was the easy part.  I still needed a photographer. I started asking around for who would be willing to spend a day taking pictures and giving them to families in need.  I wasn't really getting anywhere with my questions so I googled "metro Detroit photographers" and started browsing the websites of local photographers who looked like they knew what they were doing.  I decided to take a shot in the dark and email different photographers.  I received a positive response from a guy who is, in my opinion, very talented!  After discussing the event briefly via email, we decided to meet to talk about the details.  Adam Czap is now on board as the photographer for the day.  I'm really excited!

I am still looking for a printer who is willing to print about 30 8x10 photos as well as a company or individual who is willing to gift 30 8x10 frames for the photos.  If you know anyone who may be able to help in this area please contact us!  Also, if you are interested in photography and would like to be a Help Portrait assistant for the day go to our contact page to give us more information about yourself!

I'm thrilled that Jeremy Cowart's vision of Help Portrait has migrated from Nashville, TN to Detroit, MI.  I can't wait to share the rest of the story once December 12th hits!