Write@253 Fundraiser & Mural

A coat of fresh black paint, and now these alleyway panels are ready for Write@253 to begin their POETRY MURAL!
A coat of fresh black paint, and now these alleyway panels are ready for Write@253 to begin their POETRY MURAL!

Make sure to watch the progress over the next few weeks on Write@253’s poetry mural going up in the alleyway starting at Court C & 11th.  This vibrant community writing center is also hosting a fundraiser this Tuesday night!

Write@253 Fundraiser
Tuesday, Aug. 13, 4-8 pm
Joeseppi’s, 2207 N. Pearl, Tacoma 98406
Dine in or order takeout and Write@253 will receive a portion of the profits!

Here is a message from the Write@253 Coordinator Mary Fox:

“If you have a free hour or so on Tuesday, you are cordially invited to Joeseppi’s Italian Ristorante for a restaurant takeover to raise money for write@253, a free, non-profit community writing center. This is a wonderfully generous effort by a group of TCC students in Christie Fierro’s communications class, who chose to do a community service project to benefit a non-profit and, lucky for us, selected write@253.

Just a little background for those of you who may be unfamiliar with our work: write@253 was founded about a year ago by teachers, writers and friends who believe that creativity and literacy go hand in hand, who believe that all children deserve a rich and transformative education, and who are committed to making that happen by working with Tacoma students in high-poverty neighborhoods and schools.

It’s been a good first year: We’ve:
· led journalism workshops at First Creek Middle School, McCarver Elementary and our Hilltop writing center,
· offered poetry workshops and five weeks of summer writing camp,
· provided afterschool homework help and writing enrichment in the Salishan and Hilltop communities,
· just finished our first Young Filmmakers Camp – where 35 middle and high school students made their own movies
· and volunteers are currently leading art and writing activities during the free summer lunch program provided by St. Leo’s in Salishan.
· We’ve also been super honored to work closely this year on projects with KBTC Public Television, the Tacoma Foundation for Schools, Post Defiance, the DASH Center for the Arts, the Fab-5 graffiti artists project, Tacoma Community College, Pacific Lutheran University, and Peace Community Center, all of whom care deeply about Tacoma, about education and, most importantly, about our children.

We plan to expand our work in the upcoming year. In fact, we start next week on a poetry in the alley project through Tacoma Spaceworks, we are super excited about a “cartonera project” that is in the works, and we’re exploring the possibility of offering film clubs and writing centers at Tacoma middle schools. There is so much good work to do!

Here’s a link to our website: http://write253.wordpress.com/

All of write@253’s programs for students are free – they are for everyone – and our staff is all volunteer. All money raised goes toward paying for supplies and rent and utilities at our Hilltop writing center.

The Joeseppi’s takeover is a generous effort by TCC students, and we’ll put the money to good use. Feel free to share the takeover info with your friends and families. I hope to see you all there!”

Mary, write@253 coordinator

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