FROM STAFF REPORTS

The Shelby County Arts Council has launched an Indiegogo Crowd Funding Campaign to expand the award winning “Writing Our Stories” program to a second Shelby County School.

The Shelby County Arts Council will bring back Writing Our Stories to Columbiana Middle School for a fifth consecutive year, in addition we will expand to Montevallo Middle School.

Writing Our Stories is not only an anti-violence, anti-bullying program, but has proven to be a catalyst to better learning. Students are energized and inspired by the application of writing skills and grammar to the creative process of writing poetry.

At the end of a 10-week session with award-winning published poet and teacher Tony Crunk, the 7th grade students receive a professionally bound anthology of their own poetry.

Funding is in place for three-quarters of the program due to generous donations from Alabama Power, Sen. Cam Ward and the Alabama State Council on the Arts. To bridge the gap, Executive Director Bruce Andrews has turned to the newest method of fundraising.

“People have their whole life on line these days,” said Andrews. “With the majority of the population so tuned into online content, it just makes sense to tap into Crowd Funding.”

Crowd funding allows people from all over the area, country and even world to make a donation to a chosen cause with just a click of the mouse or a swipe of their smart phone.

“Our hope is that donors who see the video and hear the story will be willing to give to the cause and ‘share’ the opportunity with their friends through social media,” said Andrews. “With the campaign scheduled to close on March 17, would be donors are encouraged to visit the Writing Our Stories fundraising page sooner rather than later.

To find out more about the Writing Our Stories program and the SCAC Crowd funding, visit the Indegogo website at Indiegogo.com/explore and enter “Writing Our Stories” in the search box.