PAINTING YOUR LIFE FROM A BLANK CANVAS

Zach is nine years old. Zach designed a customer survey last month that went out to all our customers.

He signed it Zach (aged 9).

How cool is that? I mean he’s 9 and he designed his own survey.

Zach was out for dinner and I happened to show up to make a customer delivery. I asked Zach if he wanted to make the delivery.

He did it.

The look on his face in that brief instant was priceless.

That’s why we’re here.

That’s why we are doing what are doing.

Not just me but parent volunteers everywhere. The chance to connect and the opportunity to learn and to grow works both ways. Every parent volunteer is a hero.

That’s you, whether you acknowledge it or not, it’s you.

I’ve certainly grown. I have come to care for these kids.

They have this blank canvas in front of them and at this age they are using water colour, erasing and starting over when it doesn’t feel right. Each canvas a life experience.

When we get older and have responsibilities, we get jealous.

They can start a new canvas whenever they want. Reinventing their world and themselves at will. Experimenting, learning and adapting as they go.

I’m privileged to be a part of these kid’s lives — now up to eleven kids. I’m not sure how many of these kids I can connect with or make a difference with but the hope of that fleeting instance when Zach was beaming with pride, drives me to keep trying.

The summer is a little slow as people take holidays and I realize I miss them when they aren’t around. It’s hard not to care for these innocent little painters.

I just hope they continue to use water colour as long as they can.

CLUB UPDATE

Some of you may remember that I have ordered a Glowforge www.glowforge.com.

The kids are going to love it. I like to try to go where the puck is going and I think micro manufacturing is going to take over. This isn’t exactly a CNC machine or regular 3D printer but the stuff we are going to be able to design with it is going to be really cool. I am very excited to see some of the things these kids come up with!

Anyway, Glowforge just announced they raised $22m so they are well funded and doing well.

July was slower sales but we still manger to pick up over $400 in sales and even had a club table at the neighbourhood July 1st fair. We couldn’t sell anything but tried to create some awareness.

As I mentioned, we are up to 11 kids; each with a unique story that I’m enjoying getting to know.

If you are local or in town for a visit on a Monday night, stop by for a visit. You will get your own reward and get to be a superhero for at least a night!