Kids Rim Fire Fears
Sonora, CA — Some students got a chance to express their Rim Fire fears, through art, and now that work is helping to heal others. The fire shut down Curtis Creek Elementary and all Tuolumne County Schools for a week. When students returned, they wanted to express how the Rim Fire had affected them so they used art as a healing tool. Thirteen students in the Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) class used water colors, paper and pen to express their feelings. Now those paintings and poems have been made into a calendar that is selling like hot cakes.
GATE Coordinator Liz Miller says, “We were not intending for it to ever be a fundraiser at all, but by the time we ordered 200 they were sold. We ordered another 300 and started putting them out in the community and they sold out.”
A total of 1,500 calendars have been printed and those are flying off the shelves.
“I think honestly, the calendar is having a big healing effect on the whole community. I think it’s selling so well because we’ve all been through it. We were all there. We can relate. It’s touched a piece of each of us,” says Miller.
The school started selling the calendar on October 28th and so far $4,000 has been raised to use for field trips and other activities. The students have also been invited to the Yosemite National Park Supervisors meeting to talk about their paintings and read their poems. Some of the art work will also be shown at a “Standing With The Watershed” art show in San Francisco.
Various businesses in the Sonora and surrounding areas are helping to sell the $10 calendars. Click here to view the calendar.
