Swap-O-Rama-Rama...with a twist

I'm completely wiped from an awesome birthday weekend at the Madonna Inn (Thanks baby!), so forgive me if I sound a little sad. I've been rummaging through my emails, and while this sounds fun, it reminded me that the craft world maintains such a tightly knit community online, but geographically, it's almost impossible to participate in most of the opportunities I find. And I guess I am still a little high from last week's Los Angeles Craft Mafia meeting which only awakened my appetite for in person meetups without bedding it down. Sigh.

Anyway, may this opportunity brighten your day...from Kim Schenck:

Hi all!
I am planning on putting on a Swap-o-rama-rama (SORR) with a twist. The SORR will actually be one of many activities planned at week long camps for youth who are in foster care. The youth participate in lots of activities at camp with the ultimate goal of developing leadership skills, creativity, independent living skills, teambuilding, etc. I thought a SORR would be a great way to teach youth about sustainability, diy movement, etc.

We are a local non-profit in Austin who has been providing youth development/leadership events for youth in foster care for over 20 years. I'd ultimately like to get several local designer/artists/seamstresses involved – hence this email. This wouldn't be a traditional swap-o-rama-rama, but a shorter version. We're also focusing on re-designing/restructuring *only* t-shirts. They can choose to make them into whatever they'd like – bags, hats, shirts, skirts, whatever. The evening will culminate in a fashion show.

Each youth 16-18 years old from around the state attend camp with a counselor or caseworker. We typically have around 75 total participants at each camp – 50 youth and 25 adult sponsors. Dates for camps are March 12-15 and March 16-19 with the SORR scheduled from 6:30-9:30pm on Thursday, *March 13th* and Monday, *March 17th* in Wimberley (about 25 miles southwest of Austin) where the camp is located. If you are interested in participating,
*please* reply to this email. We are able to compensate folks for their help – around *$100* for each camp. We'd love to have you!

I'm also looking for anyone with expertise in airbrush painting and/or screen printing.

For more info, contact, Kim Schenck (Kschenck@tnoys.org) LMSW ofTexas Network of Youth Services (TNOYS) and visit the site, www.tnoys.org