KIDS SEE STARS, 2009 project

[BBE]

Photo time!!!

It was such a great weekend! We kicked it off with a visit to the Rock For Kids headquarters to give them the donations Liz listed above. Here are Kyle (from Rock For Kids) and Liz with some of the donations:



Then the next afternoon, it was off to La Casita, where we had been invited to be guests of the boys as they celebrated the grand opening of their rec room, and their progress with music!

Here is Steve, the house director, along with other staff members, cutting the ribbon to declare the new rec room open.






Shall we go inside and take a look?





There is some very special artwork on the walls. These were made by all the boys, and instead of having them illustrate their own name, they worked on each others' instead. So this gives a glimpse of not only each boy's personality, but also how they view one another. What a great idea!















Of course, every clubhouse needs some rules:




More to come in my next post!

[BBE]

Inside the rec room, this 'window' looks out onto what they decided would be the ideal scene, and it's meant to show them that the world is what they make of it. Good message!




This amazing mural covered one wall, and was donated by a local artist:




The outside looks great, too!




Now, who's ready for a barbeque?!




Then, time for a performance by the stars of tomorrow!!! They took turns singing and playing.

When they played "Stand By Me", I confess that the lump in my throat spilled over into tears. It really meant a lot!




Great party, guys!!!




These are happy and well-loved instruments!




Their music teacher played for us, too.




Before the day ended, Duane had a moment with the guitar that he repaired for the boys.




The very best part of the day was how much this meant to the boys of La Casita house!




Thank you to EVERYONE who has donated and supported Kids See Stars!!!!! YOU made this day possible for these boys. Please give yourselves a HUGE round of applause, and a pat on the back! YOU ROCK!!!!!

[BBE]

I thought of a couple of things I need to add to what I wrote.

I was so proud of "our boys" that day! They are on their way to becoming fine young men who see a future for themselves. I forgot to say that some of the songs they performed were ones they had written themselves, and they were really good! One I especially liked was an ode to a young lady that had caught the eye of one of the fellows. It was totally romantic, not at all vulgar. That impressed me a lot. (It wasn't rap. It was kind of like old school soul with really smooth melodies, maybe like Smoky Robinson. Nice!)