Favorite Charity: Alice Mann Beading Class
Website: www.stpete.org/recreation/therapeuticrecreation.asp
I started the class about 8 or 9 years ago just as a beginner beading class, but once the Recreation Center found out I have a degree in Special Needs, I started allowing special needs students in the class. From there, I found out that these students wanted to learn, but no one wanted to teach them. I did and have been doing it ever since. It is now a full special needs class. I love this class and it has become a second family to mine.
Although it is not considered a non-profit class, as I do not have enough money to make it so, I consider it a non-profit class. I have a deal with the Recreation Center that if the student cannot pay for class, let them come anyway. I have about 3 or 4 paying students and about 6 or 7 non-paying ones. This is a make-and-take class; anything they make, it is theirs to keep. The class accepts donations of beading supplies, preferably big hole beads, as many of my students have difficulty seeing the small holes.