Cricket's Hope Information

Currently the Cricket's Hope offers our ARK program at Crickets House and a number of community partner locations. Cricket's House became part of the SFJC in 2014 through a generous donation from the Christopher P. Walker Foundation and it now being leased by Cricket's Hope in order to expand the program. Children that participate in the ARK program and Camp Hope campers meet at this incredible location (Cricket's House) to have parties, do art, and become family. ARK staff is also located at this site. It is an amazing "art house" designed for children to come have fun and to be safe with loving people that care about them and their future. How Does ARK Make an Impact? Children are often unable to talk openly about the abuse they have been exposed to or affected by, and art is a safe way to explore feelings and share voices. Our children understand the importance of having a safe place with non-judgmental facilitators. They thrive in this type of relationship and that helps them heal. Our ARK program includes ongoing mentoring of the children as an essential component. The children learn to be in a positive relationship with caring and loving adults and mentors. This gives them a feeling of hope and optimism while having people encourage and inspire them. The ARK program is project and workshop based. It is not art therapy, but it is therapeutic in nature. Our goal is to love these children unconditionally and to provide them support from which to model their lives in the future. We have found the children who are in our programs look so forward to the programs that they want to come to school and get good grades so that they are eligible to participate. They learn to self-monitor their impulses and behavior to earn the privilege to attend parties, class and other outings and most importantly they begin to show other qualities of well-being. Once a year Cricket's Hope will host an event in which professional artists interpret art created by the kids who have participated in our ARK program. This event offers ...