Description

We are starting an off-shoot of Kids on the Block Ottawa (go to kidsontheblockottawa.com to check it out). It is an educational puppet show for the high schools. We will be training grade 9 to 12 students to puppet to give the skits to grade 7 students. We cover the topics of elderly relatives and friends, sexual assault, violence in the schools, drugs in the schools, and religious discrimination, The scripts are provided by the International Puppet Clearinhouse.com and are developed by Rabbi Barbara Aeillo (go to InternationalClearinghouse.com to read the background and mission of the organization. Grade 9 to 12 students have to volunteer for 40 hours for graduation so this will go a long way to fulfill that opportunity. We have two trainers so far (but are looking for more). The skits are about 20 minutes and then the puppeteers will answer questions in character. They will have researched the topics with the help of CHEO staff and elders in their lives. They will arrange the times in school hours with the Grade 7 teachers and gain leadership skills in co-ordinating the program. The Board will oversee the projects, help to raise funds and promote the idea in the community and be of support to the trainers. We need to apply for a registration number, develop a constitution, a mission statement, an equity policy and a website. We are starting from scratch but have the expertise of Kids on the Block volunteers who have been doing this for 30 years and more. It is one meeting a month (maybe a few more at the beginning to get started) on Google Groups for an hour and a half on the second week of the month – day to be decided by the volunteers availability.