About the CAC Member and Site (2018-2019):

Dominique Butler served at Baltimore Orchard Project in 2018-19, an organization under the umbrella of CivicWorks, that seeks to strengthen communities through planting and cultivating orchards and teaching citizens to serve as long-term stewards of those orchards.  Baltimore Orchard Project also leads educational programs that focus on environmental sustainability and food justice through art-making activities. Dominique will continue to serve a second year in the CAC program at a different Site (Jubilee Arts) next year!

"Recycled Fashion Show"

For our last day of Orchard Club programming at the Reginald F. Lewis high school,  we decided to host a fashion show - all with recycled materials. The students split up into groups and were given the same amount of items (egg cartons, newspapers, construction paper, etc.) and worked together to create an exciting new outfit with their group. All the students were super enthusiastic and were so excited to participate. Something we haven't experienced before. Even the students who normally did not seem engaged or focused got really involved in this fun activity.  The students showed a tremendous amount of creativity as they were making clothes out of the materials that we brought in. The activity ended with a special “runway show” finale, where students took turns modeling their finished designs, as everyone cheered. We brought supplies to make fruit smoothies with the class, and their science teacher, Mr. Biegel, bought pizzas for everyone. Literally everyone was involved and had the best moods ever for the entire class period. At the end of class, some of the older students approached me and the other Baltimore Orchard Project team members to tell us how much they appreciated us, and the time we spent together during this year.