My Nonprofit Reviews

The last four years have been the toughest four years of our entire endeavor at Art of Recycle. We witnessed many small organizations close their doors forever, most of them were art centers that meant a lot to the small communities that they served. At Art of Recycle we did our best to help keep many organizations and programs from closing their doors by providing as much support as we could to as many programs as we could. However, the worst part of the shutdown was not the shutdown itself, it was the long recovery time that followed after. Organizations, like our own, are still struggling to keep going, just as are many others. The pandemic may be over, but the financial destruction that the pandemic caused is still here, leaving many non-profits with large debt that they had accrued in their attempt to keep their doors open during 2020 and the following years.

What makes Art of Recycle special is our commitment to those in need. AoR isn’t simply an art center, it is a true community center that has a wonderful team of dedicated people who want the best for the people we serve. The sacrifices that we make to keep our programs running and our work at helping to create equity in our communities are worth every moment of our time and energies. Knowing that thousands of children benefit from our organization’s mission is what keeps our doors open. Seeing the direct impact of our work motivates us to keep going. Thank you for believing in us and thank you for your support!

Art of Recycle started in 2008 because of a physical illness that went undiagnosed for 18 years. A ruptured ovary. Without a diagnosis, I needed something to help me survive through the pain. It was a very long 18 years to get through. I had nothing to lose, so all I did was give. My ovary had ruptured so many times that scar tissue had glued my ovary to my abdominal cavity and eventually the scar tissue had lacerated and I was bleeding out. Everyday I thought I was on the verge of passing out, but none of the tests that the doctors ordered showed anything and left me untreated and without any strength. I was walking with a walker on the worst days, and some days all I could do was sit. My best friend was always by my side and he took over maintaining the organization as it grew. The free teacher area was started because teachers from Philadelphia visited and asked for pencils, any pencils, as long as they worked. They would drive two to four hours to pick up boxes of pencils, pens and markers. That is when we realized that there was a real purpose to what we were doing and we decided that was the direction we wanted to put our focus towards.

During the course of the 15 years of developing Art of Recycle, I ran into a lot of woman who had similar stories of undiagnosed pain. Some had eventually found a diagnosis, others were just like me, going back and forth to doctors with no results. The were left in limbo. Like some of them, I eventually got lucky and found a doctor that was able to help me. Unfortunately, most of the damage that was done to my nervous system is in repairable. I am left with debilitating pain that comes and goes. I have good days and I have bad days. I continue my work at Art of Recycle, unpaid, knowing that I will never have a normal life. I spend my time helping where I can and assisting young adults and teenagers with challenges. I do my best to encourage them, to build up their self esteem and to help them one on one with building math skills, reading and writing, and job and life skills. Art of Recycle rocks, and so does the team that has come together to make this one of the most incredible places on earth.

As a board member and a co-founder, I am only a volunteer and do not receive any pay for my involvement in this organization. Because of my neurological pain I have difficulty with being able to lift heavy items or to standing in one place or sitting in one spot for a long time.

I have been a part of this organization for 14 years. It is the most wonderful place to be a part of. The people, the students, the Art, the community, it all makes life so much better.

As a volunteer at Art of Recycle, everyday is a fantastic day. Our teams in Ephrata and Hanover are full of wonderful people that work together to make this organization’s programs grow and thrive. I am excited and amazed to be a part of something as amazing as providing free resources to organizations, classrooms and entire schools with the materials they need to be successful. From the beautiful reviews that have been written, I can see that our impact has not gone unnoticed. What was once a small dream and a simple idea has now become an essential necessity to many teachers and community leaders.

Everyday I am amazed at the fantastic people that come together and help Art of Recycle become the place it has developed into. From our neighbors and friends, to organizations such as the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts, to the children in the neighborhood, to the teachers in the area and their students, to local church groups and local businesses. It's a team effort and it couldn't be done without so much community support. Thank you to everyone involved! Thank you for believing that this could be done!

Art of Recycle is all of our creative energies bundled up into one building. It was an idea that has grown faster than our imaginations could wander. The amount of people that utilize our services everyday and the number of organizations that we network with on a weekly basis is incredible and rapidly growing. At the pace we are developing at AoR will need a space ten times its size in only a few years. I can't thank people enough for supporting us the way that they do. Keep believing in us and we will continue to create! Thank you Ephrata!

Art of Recycle is a wonderland that was created to inspire, encourage and motivate people to be more involved in art and community. This project has by far passed our expectations and our dreams. While we were building and constructing the craft castle I would try to imagine it full of people crafting different things, socializing with each other and enjoying themselves, now everyday when I see the craft castle full of people crafting, creating, imagining, I imagine craft castles in every little town... it was needed in Ephrata, more than I imagined, and there should be more of them because little towns need them.

Our hope was to show people a different outlook and by reading our guests reviews I am now certain that we our meeting our expectations of what we set out to achieve. I can't thank people enough for all of the support that our little organization has received. We will continue to do as much as we can and go as far as we can, because it is needed :)

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