Leah's Barn Raising

In January 2015, I began a year-long adventure teaching "The Art of Upcycling" to students in all 17 public schools in Oldham County, Kentucky. In addition to teaching children to see potential in everything, I'm teaching parents, educators and administrators about creative reuse - as a means of expression and a way to subsidize our ever-dwindling school budget.

The materials I collect - on the roadside, at the recycling center, or from like-minded donors - are all FREE. The only cost to me is the space needed to store these things, until they're needed by students or teachers.

I've built some wonderful relationships with both businesses and non-profits looking to re-home unused materials. Now I need to build a barn to store all that I've been given.

Here's a glimpse of some of the materials I've gathered this year: 
My family of 4 lives in a 1,000 sq. ft. home, with 2 dogs, no basement, and very little storage space. I'd like to build a small storage barn in our backyard to house all the materials I collect for creative reuse. Everything I collect will either be used by me, when I teach "The Art of Upcycling," or available for use by any teacher in Oldham County, at no charge. 

Imagine if teachers no longer had to ask parents to send in everyday items for science projects or art - plastic bottles, toilet paper rolls, coffee cans, magazines, fabric, buttons, and more - but could simply email a creative reuse center to request these things when needed!

Last May, I gleaned leftover school supplies from three of our county's middle schools, to clean up and donate back to schools in the fall. The result was:

- 200 composition notebooks
- 1,000 sheets of loose-leaf notebook paper
- 100 glue sticks
- too many pencils to count and so much more
If I have the space to store what I collect, I will attempt this kind of gleaning at all of our county's schools next spring.

I dream of someday establishing a creative reuse center in Oldham County and believe having this kind of additional space is the first step toward making that happen. A storage barn will allow me to:

- collect, store, and provide more free materials to students in Oldham County

- learn what materials are in greatest demand and the best ways to find and store them

- document and share proof of the need for a creative reuse center and the viability of this idea

You can learn more about my year as Artist in Residence and my personal and professional attempts at creative reuse at makingsomethingofit.com

Thanks for considering this and for whatever support you can provide!