I have participated in CC's Thanksgiving Fest as a turkey cooker! I love how Rob and his amazing and dedicated volunteers reach out to our community in Eastport/Annapolis and make sure that these families know they are loved and respected. The kids have a great time with art and craft, parents get served and the whole family eat a delicious and nutritious meal together. I am thankful to be part of this community outreach and enjoy a meal with my neighbors as we serve and love them.
As a parent, I have seen how Creating Communities bridges the gaps between generations, communities, and the children who live there. Although my children have attended the mentorship academy, I am aware that Creating Communities does more for the community at-large, than simply provide scholarships for students. Services they provide to local shelters and other organizations throughout the county are phenomenal. I am especially fond of the Thanksgiving Dinner they provide, with the help of its many sponsors, annually. What a great organization to be part of!
I have volunteered at the Summer of Arts & Music Camp Creating Communities offers every year to our local underserved children (Elementary thru High School). Rob Levit pulls together a team of experts in arts & music to lead creative and exciting classes to help these kids express their thoughts, feelings, and aspirations in a new and fun manner. They get physical, mental, and emotional rejuvenation as they participate in this weeklong event. Families & Friends attend a "show" at the end of the week and witness the amazing projects and results of their children's time at this camp. The talent and passion demonstrated by these children and their leaders takes them by surprise. These kids walk taller, with a smile on their face, knowing how much talent they have and cherished they are by this group of local "fans". I have loved attending this closing ceremony for the past 3 years and I'm glad I have had a small part in supporting this effective organization.
As Development Director at an addictions treatment center, I was privileged to work with Rob Levit and Creating Communities as part of their music and arts therapy. The program offered to the patients in recovery was nothing less than amazing. Through the use of music, meditation techniques, poetry, painting, and even rap, Rob and the CC volunteers encouraged the patients to use the arts as a healthy expression of emotions and to explore long forgotten dreams and talents. During each weekly 90 minute session, the transformation of the participants was nothing short of miraculous. Even those patients who initially were reluctant to participate were drawn to Rob's enthusiastic, congenial and self-effacing manner. I witnessed many instances of the most hardened, withdrawn patients, many fighting years of addiction find joy in picking up a guitar, a paintbrush, or even putting pen to paper. At the end of each session the overwhelming majority of patients expressed that they would continue to use what they had learned, and that it would help them in their journey to recovery and sobriety. Creating Communities has truly had a life-changing impact on the community they serve.
Creating Communities is an inspiration! I had the pleasure to volunteer and teach with this awesome organization and always feel so uplifted by every aspect. From the wonderful and very enthusiastic students, amazing and dedicated staff of volunteers, teachers, visiting artists, board members and Rob Levit, there is now doubt Anne Arundel County is a better county because Creating Communities exists.
As a Professor and Community activist, Creating Communities Corporation was one of the most amazing experiences I had in working with children and teens in sharing my passion but also promoting creativity and the performing arts. The Corporation is well organized and benefits important communities that need the support in gaining access to all of the art forms!
I have worked in Anne Arundel County for the past 23 years. I have run programs, worked within programs, and volunteered for programs. From my perspective, Creating Communities is well worth the time and money to help support, or in seeking their programming! I have seen the director, Rob Levit, in action. He is personable, caring, passionate about his work, and provides wonderful opportunities within the community he serves, through Creating Communities. His talent is fantastic and his ability to share his passion for music and the arts is awesome. I also know from personal experience that Creating Communities helps other organizations with their outreach, thereby expanding even further, Creating Communities impact and community outreach. The programs that are run, spare no expense, and if you read the mission, vision, and quick facts, I believe Creating Communities meets and exceeds what is written on paper.
We are a few of the grateful recipients of Creating Communities. As a small local organization, hosting "Sensory Friendly Concerts" in the Annapolis, Maryland region, we are more than happy to shout from the rooftops that our work would not be possible without Creating Communities! And specifically, Rob Levit's belief in us and what we are capable of, as a minority and under-served group in our local community. It would be impossible to for us to continue doing our innovative work in constructing the framework for "equal rights to the fine arts" and celebrating the Neurodiversity Movement within the context of a formal concert venue, unless we had Creating Communities backing us up! Thank you for believing us in!!!!!
