CHS Involved in The Memory Project

There is no better learning than that which combines the learning of a skill with the learning of compassion.  The Memory Project is a win-win project,  in which art students create portraits for children and teens around the world who have been neglected, orphaned, or disadvantaged

Since children in such dire situations tend to have few personal keepsakes, the idea is to provide them with special memories that capture a piece of their childhood and their personal history. In doing so, the children get to see themselves as works of art.

 CHS teacher Mr. Gorman receives photos of children from Nicaragua, an passes them on to his students.   The students then create their portraits using digital media. Those  portraits are then  delivered to the children overseas as special gifts.  To see some examples of their work, go to http://cranfordschools.org/chs/sa/14_15/index.html .

The Memory Project was developed by Ben Schumaker.  In 2003, while volunteering at an orphanage in Guatemala as a graduate student of social work at the University of Wisconsin, Ben learned that the kids there had few special belongings to represent moments of their childhood. They had very few photos, for example, to serve as memories. Since Ben had always enjoyed making portraits in school art classes, he had the idea to get art students involved in creating portraits for the kids.

Thus was born the Memory Project , which Ben still coordinates full-time today. To date,  the project has created nearly 50,000 portraits for children in 34 countries, and the program is still going strong.  For more information about The Memory Project, o to fins out how to get involved, check out the website at http://www.memoryproject.org/index.php .