Haine Students Mold Fundraiser to Fight Hunger

Two three-dimensional molded faces greeted guests at the entrance to the art show Thursday. One wore a soccer ball hat, commemorating last year’s World Cup in South Africa. The other face was covered in green camouflage.

That was just the beginning. Three hallways near the cafeteria were lined with almost 7,000 pieces of art that ranged from paintings to small decorated stools to silhouette portraits created by the school's fifth- and sixth-graders. At Thursday's art show, the middle school students guided their families through the maze of art to show what they had created over the school year.

Walking into the cafeteria generated the biggest wow factor, the kind that Haine art teacher s strives for.

“I’m the queen of volume,” said Reynolds, whose long locks of curly blonde hair proved her point. “If I can’t do something big and over the top, I’m not doing it.”

Inside the lunchroom, more than 750 empty clay bowls, all handmade and decorated by the students and faculty at Haine, sat on 16 rows of three tables.

“Until you are standing in the middle of [almost] 800 bowls, you just can’t even fathom the amount,” Reynolds said.

The bowls were sold at $5 each, and all proceeds went to Gleaners Food Bank in Cranberry. The school teamed with the Empty Bowls Project, an international organization that enlists the help of potters to create empty bowls for purchase as a fundraiser for local food banks. Reynolds said Thursday's event should raise more than $4,000.

Reynolds and another art teacher, Erin Wildrick, laid out all of the bowls with a corresponding number so the students could find the one they made to buy and take home.

Still, some scoured the tables to claim their bowl before someone else did. Even if they weren't able to purchase their own bowl, Wildrick said, the students were more than happy to help with the fundraiser.

“It’s not that often when students get to help the community,” she said. “It’s also a chance to learn that everything they are making in school isn’t always for them.”

The students would probably agree to make anything involving clay.

“Clay is one of the kids' favorite things to do,” Wildrick said.

Reynolds said this was the first year the art program had tackled an activity of this size, and it may be the last. The state's proposed cuts in education funding will hurt art programs throughout Pennsylvania, and Reynolds said Seneca Valley’s program could be reduced by 40 percent next year.

“For some kids, art is their favorite thing about school,” Wildrick said. “Arts teach a different way of thinking. It’s just sad.”