The Welman Project

✨ New Wellie Alert! ✨

Sandra found The Welman Project after a long, treacherous, oceanic voyage. After years of traversing the globe in search of the perfect job, Sandra stumbled upon our brightly painted building and thought, "Finally, a place as whimsical and exciting as I am!"

You'll typically find Sandra in the free Educator Warehouse directing teachers on where to find their treasure, or in the Batcave reveling in the maximalism. Be sure to visit The Welman Project to say hello to our growing team and let Sandra help you dig for treasure for your classroom!

Three cheers for Cindy Kohn!

Cindy is not only a full time teacher at Riverside Applied Learning Center, but she is also one of our most dedicated volunteers at The Welman Project. Cindy makes her way to Wellie HQ most days after school to either help us sort incoming donations, maintain a specific section of the free educator warehouse, or just spread love and smiles for a few minutes!

Since her first volunteer shift in 2020, Cindy officially hit her 1,000th volunteer hour this past Sunday! Cindy, you truly cannot imagine the impact that you have had on your fellow educators, your surrounding community, and even within our tiny organization. We are so lucky to know you and to have you as a supporter of our mission. Thank you for being a Wellie!

"Welcome to the Island of Misfit Toys!"

Come one, come all to The Welman Project's 2nd Annual Island of Holiday Misfits workshop this Saturday, December 9th! Reimagine misfit materials from Christmas Past into one-of-a-kind keepsakes of Christmas Present that you’ll want to deck your halls with for Christmas Futures. Bring Cousin Hermey the Elf, Uncle Scrooge, and your neighbor Cindy Lou-Who to totally sleigh, the Welman way.

Register here: https://thewelmanproject.org/garage/shop/garage/workshops/all-age-workshops/holiday-misfits/

The internet loves Spotify Wrapped - and even though our year isn't over yet, we wanted to jump on board! So November's Scorecard is brought to you - unofficially - by Spotify (but please feel free to sponsor all of our hard work next year)!

🍎 Educators Served: 693 extraordinary champions shaping young minds! Your dedication lights up classrooms like constellations. 🌌 🤩

💰 Dollars Saved: A whopping $173,920! Now that's some serious coin saved for classrooms, turning dreams into reality.

📦 Cubic Feet Saved: Our Tetris skills are unmatched - 3,385 cubic feet of supplies saved from the landfill! That's 19 dumpsters full of stuff!

⏰ Volunteer Hours: A round of applause for 754 hours of volunteer time spent helping serve the mission! Every single person who lends a hand is at the center of our mission, and we're endlessly grateful!

Here's to the Welman community - educators, volunteers, and all our wonderful supporters! We have just a few weeks until we wrap up the year, so come see us for those last minute school supplies! Or if you're not a teacher - come check out our curiosity shop for all the fun funky finds for your friends or fam!

Happy International Volunteer Day!

To celebrate, we're gonna shout out an incredible group of people who really turned our Dad's Garage Makerspace into Santa's Workshop. With the help of a group of volunteers from HCVT Certified Public Accountants, we were able to get a HUGE amount of work done in such a short amount of time! Together we took discarded materials from the community and made:

🌳 No-Harm-Tree-Farm Kits: Using just a few scraps of wood and some basic tools, we made kits that allow children (and some fun adults) to decorate their own lil' trees to create their very own winter wonderland!

👕 T-Shirt Yarn for Weaving Projects: Transforming test shirts and misprinted tees (generously donated by Morgan Mercantile) into t-shirt yarn for school weaving projects is a great way to turn old or discarded textiles into art!

🧵 Fabric Quarters for The Curiosity Shop: meticulously sorting, folding, and wrapping scraps of colorful leftovers from the Fort Worth Quilt Guild and other craft groups is a lot harder and more time-consuming than it sounds! But thanks to the HCVT volunteers, we were able to get these bundles looking nice and neat and out into our Curiosity Shop in no time!

📚 Sorted piles of books for our Bookmobile Partners: Is it a hardback nonfiction biography? An early reader board book? A textbook from 1800 claiming that the Sun revolved around the Earth? These books don't go to the same people, so sorting these books into subjects and reading levels is super helpful. HCVT helped us make sure that we can efficiently get these books where they need to go - into the hands of students!

Thank you again, HCVT volunteers, for your enthusiasm, generosity, and hard work! Y'all are the driving forces behind positive change and a lasting impact on Fort Worth! 🌍

On the fifth day of December my true love gave to me, a pair of pink glittery trees. 💖Now in the online shop a long with many awesome goodies for Christmas!

http://welmanproject.square.site

Jeanne Fee is an elementary school teacher at Carrollton Elementary School, and when she needed curtains for her classroom, she knew The Welman Project would be able to help her out.

Luckily, Jeanne attended a Sewing Basics Professional Development session at The Welman Project earlier this summer, so all she had to do was visit the Free Educator Warehouse to pick up a couple of materials and then check in to Open Makerspace Lab to use a sewing machine and her newly learned skills to DIY exactly what she needed - for free!

Makerspace Lab is open from 3-6pm Wednesdays and Thursdays and all day on Sundays. Come hang out with some of your favorite Wellies and make something for your classroom!

Wholesome alert: First-year teacher Daizja and last-year-before-she-retires teacher Ellen are the cutest grandma-granddaughter duo you have ever met!

When Daizja, a 4th-grade teacher at Eastern Hills Elementary School, set out to find materials at The Welman Project for her first year in the classroom, she brought along her best shopping partner - fellow educator and grandmother Ellen!

Personally, we love it when a family "Welman"'s together!

If you're out shopping this weekend, stop in to grab some materials for your classroom and bring the family to our Sidewalk Sale on Sunday, December 3rd, from 9am - 2pm, or to shop in our Curiosity Shop from 9am - 6pm!

On the first day of December my true love gave to me: a fully stocked front and back tackle box with embroidery floss-yyyyy. 🎄 🎁 You can find this and more in our online shop.

https://welmanproject.square.site

Steven has been a dedicated Wellie since day one of our existence, but today marks FIVE YEARS of him being our very first staff member!

He's literally done it all over the years, but these days you'll mostly find him managing our makerspace and making teachers' project dreams come true. Here he is modeling lab coats he helped Jazmine make for her Pre-K students out of worn out dress shirts! (Made to be long sleeve and floor length on a four year old 😜)

Educators, want help with a project? Visit thewelmanproject.org/garage/educators/ to connect with Steven.

Everyone else, want to volunteer in our makerspace? Visit thewelmanproject.org/volunteer to let us know!

Happy Five Year Anniversary, Steven! We can't imagine Welman without you.

Happy December, y'all!

If you're looking for ways to entertain visiting family members this month, The Welman Project has TONS of fun planned before our winter sleep. We've got Mini Makers for the littles, Hot Mess Craft Club for the adults, and Island of Misfit Toys Workshop for the whole family!

Check out the whole schedule for Dad's Garage Makerspace here!
https://thewelmanproject.org/garage/466-2/workshops/

✨ New Wellie Alert! ✨

Robbie (they/them) is our new Arts & Crafts Specialist (though they consider themselves a true jack-of-all-trades). They have two cats, one leopard gecko, and far too many craft supplies for one human. Anything shiny and glittery is sure to catch their eye, and their apron is constantly shifting to accommodate the newfound trinkets!

You can find Robbie behind the front desk with a huge smile on their face or being incredibly helpful in the Free Educator Warehouse. If you haven't yet, stop by and introduce yourself and see what new flare is on their apron!

Our Curiosity Shop and Free Educator Warehouse are open Wednesday - Friday from 12 pm - 6 pm and Saturday and Sunday from 9 am - 6 pm.
PLUS, our Sidewalk Sale is this Sunday, December 3rd, so we'll see you this weekend!

Back by jolly demand, it’s Welman’s 2nd Annual Island of Holiday Misfits workshop!

Reimagine misfit materials from Christmas Past into one-of-a-kind keepsakes of Christmas Present that you’ll want to deck your halls with for Christmas Futures.

Don’t be a garbage grinch! Say no to holiday waste and yes to merry misfits!

Register Here: https://thewelmanproject.org/garage/shop/garage/workshops/all-age-workshops/holiday-misfits/

Ew, Monday! Well, this Monday is different! Today is cyber Monday in our online shop! Check our link in bio and check out all the supplies, books, materials and more online! Use coupon code: EWMONDAY at checkout for 25% off just today!!! We have a ton of amazing goodies and a few mystery items as well!!! A great sale just in time for the holidays.

https://welmanproject.square.site

Are y’all still shopping small online? The curiosity shop is online and it holds many a thing for your gifting and crafting needs! You can get these amazing art books for your collections! Great for inspiration and decor.

https://welmanproject.square.site

# junkjounaling

🎁 Save December 3rd to chill and thrift at The Welman Project! 🎁

🕘 Time: 9 AM - 2 PM
📍 Where: 3950 W. Vickery Blvd., Fort Worth, TX 76107

🛍️ Vendors: We're inviting our creative reuse artists to showcase their craft and help you with holiday gifts. Ms. Donna will have some special seasonal fresh baked goods to hit the sweet spot!

🚗 Parking: It's Sunday, so parking is available in front and behind Swiss Pastry.

🛒 Treasure Hunt: We're destashing from our eBay store and vintage overstock. There are a lot of treasures, such as vintage suitcases, American Airlines swag, retro and modern AV gear, antique fairy tale dolls—basically, all the good stuff we had to rotate out for space.

🌈 Creative Reuse Awesomeness: Find one-of-a-kind, mind-blowing items that'll fuel your creative side. Plus, you're keeping it green by supporting our mission to hook up teachers and reduce landfill waste.

Attention attention: The Welman Project is open today!

Whether you're shopping small to support local businesses or an educator looking to maximize your holiday time to shop for your classroom, The Welman Project is a great place to start!

If you're employed by a public school district or accredited charter school, you're qualified for free stuff from The Welman Project. That means more than just teachers; librarians, coaches, principals, and counselors are welcome, too. Bring your teacher badge with you, and we'll set you up like Kimberly - a librarian from The Colony High School in Lewisville! Kimberly's first visit was a total success. She filled her ENTIRE CAR and *didn't* spend over $1,200 for her school's library programs and maker space.

So like, what are you waiting for?! We'll be waiting to see your smiling faces today until 6 pm and tomorrow from 9 am - 6 pm!!

Shop local this Shop Small Saturday at The Welman Project’s Curiosity Shop, your go-to spot for unique finds that make a difference!

Jumbo Fill-a-Bag Special: We have handmade cloth sacks for the Fill-a-Bag section for just $10! It's a shopping spree where you fill your bag to the brim with fantastic treasures—perfect for all your holiday crafts and mini-makers in your life.

Vintage Wonderland: Score big with 50% off on all vintage items. From funky decor to timeless fashion, find pieces that tell a story and add a touch of nostalgia to your life.

Bling Fling: Sparkle up your style! All costume jewelry is buy one, get one free. Mix, match, and dazzle with accessories that won't break the bank.

Don’t forget that we have an online store stocked with supplies, kits, and merch, so you don’t have to be local to help us fill a classroom, not a landfill. Link here 👉 https://welmanproject.square.site

Why do we Welman? Because we are so thankful for the teachers in our lives. This is Wellie Andrew with his first-grade teacher, who he ran into dropping off a donation last week.

From Andrew: "Ms. McHaney has been my absolute favorite teacher since I was in her class 26 years ago, and after all that time she recognized me IMMEDIATELY by first and last name! She even remembered a report that I did on narwhals back then."

26 years later!! Teachers are magic. They make us feel seen. They make us better humans. Their impact lasts our whole life, every one of us. If you're giving thanks this week, don't forget to be thankful for teachers.

To kick off the holiday week, we want to say that we are thankful for our community!

This month, The Welman Project partnered with the fourth-grade class at Fort Worth Country Day for their annual service learning project. Because the Country Day students are moving to a new building, they're helping teachers purge their classrooms and donating the lightly used materials to The Welman Project to be shopped by other educators. The students were able to learn firsthand the positive impact of creative reuse and repurposing items to keep them out of landfills by donating supplies and helping sort and organize the materials they brought with them.

Thank you for helping us fill classrooms instead of landfills, Fort Worth Country Day Fourth Grade! You're all Wellies now!

Are you looking to be a Wellie and volunteer your time helping us serve educators at The Welman Project? Check out our opportunities and shifts here: https://thewelmanproject.org/garage/volunteering/

Holidays are coming. Did you know that we have a retail shop at The Welman Project? Yes! It’s called the Curiosity Shop, and it holds many things for your gifting and crafting needs! If you’re into junk journals and planning or making collage work, we have small and large MYSTERY PAPER PACKS! It holds vintage pieces, stationery, game paper, and more! We have them in the shop and online store if you can’t make it down!

https://welmanproject.square.site

Surprise Glow Day! Using materials from The Welman Project, Amy Thompson was able to surprise her students with a glow day to practice multiplying 2 digits by 1 digit. Featuring black cloth to cover windows, white copy paper, neon paper, highlighters and neon leis all for free!

#

Shoutout time!

The Welman Project wants to thank UTA College of Business's Women In Business organization for volunteering with us last Saturday! Thank you all so much for spending your Saturday morning with us, ensuring educators have free classroom resources. Please come back anytime, you're all honorary Wellies now!

Are you looking for a way to give back during this holiday season? Check out our volunteering opportunities! You can read all about the different ways to volunteer with us and even sign up for a shift that works for your schedule by visiting our website. https://thewelmanproject.org/garage/volunteering/
Come on down!

Happy Birthday, Welman. - A Candid Note from A Co-Founder

Today is Welman’s 8th birthday, which means we are somewhere around the 3rd grade mark. Man, 3rd grade. It’s the time when math gets harder, you’ve bumped up to the older kid category at field day, and you’re officially now a pawn for state testing. On our birthday I usually talk about our humble beginnings and how we’ve grown.

But we are 8 now, and there are a few birthday wishes I have that I’d like to share.

Birthday Wish 1: I hope you know how much we love you. Welman exists because of you and for you. Educator focused, community driven, and with all the respect to Mama Nature. Welman is not about stuff. It’s about people exchanging ideas, offering support, giving their time, spreading joy and finding common ground to uplift the common good. Ok, and free stuff.

Birthday Wish 2: Keep fighting the good fight. Welman shouldn’t have to exist. Teachers should be paid more with infinite access to resources and support. The planet should be loved on through responsible policies, intentional business practices, and careful consumerism.

Birthday Wish 3: Stay involved. Vote for initiatives and laws that support teachers and protect our planet. Hone your critical thinking skills and ask hard questions. Education should not have sides and students should not be measured by what they know but rather by what they think, wonder, and create. Public education should not just be the only option for some but a great option for all. Earth doesn’t need more carbon footprints.

Birthday Wish 4: See the world for what it could be, not for what it is today. Let hope and curiosity drive you to make this world better and brighter. Get mad, get sad, but don’t give up. Find a buddy and be part of a solution.

Birthday Wish 5: A second bathroom at Welman HQ. Seriously, with 5,000 educators served just this summer…phew.

Happy Birthday, everybody! Here’s to 8.

Love & glitter & beautiful oopses,
Vanessa

We are so excited to work with this incredible team on creating our future second home, The Fred Rouse Center for Arts and Community Healing!

Transform 1012 and the Design Architect Selection Committee are thrilled to announce that B-arn-S Architects + ch_studio have been selected as the design architects for The Fred Rouse Center for Arts and Community Healing.

Over the upcoming months, engaging the practice of spacial justice, Transform 1012 and B-arn-S Architects + ch_studio will seek input from and collaborate with our plurality of constituencies and Fort Worth at large to design The Fred Rouse Center for Arts and Community Healing.

Congratulations to B-arn-S Architects + ch_studio!

The Welman Project will be closed Wednesday, 11/22, through Friday, 11/24. We'll be open again for Shop Small on Saturday, 11/25!

Bring the family because we'll have our monthly Mini-Makers workshop at 10 am and special sales in our Curiosity Shop.

She’s a community engagement enthusiast with a passion for handmade cards. He’s an upper level executive looking to turn holiday cheer into pie charts (and not the yummy kind of pie). Will Lauren and Andrew find true love through crafting at Welman’s Countdown to Holiday Awesome workshop THIS SATURDAY? Join us to find out!

Register here: https://thewelmanproject.org/garage/shop/garage/workshops/all-age-workshops/holiday-awesome/

Countdown to Holiday Awesome with the Wellies, and let us provide you with a charcuterie of craft choices to create your own family countdown calendar. Wood bits, handmade trinket boxes, leather holiday shapes? Whether it’s 12 days or 8 nights, let’s make this awesome season the awesomest.

If you were missing a certain cute face around the front desk this past week, have no fear: Amanda has returned!

This Wellie mermaid spent some time frolicking in Tenerife, the largest of the Canary Islands! While it was rainy in Texas, Amanda was checking out the dark, volcanic-sand beaches of Puerto de la Cruz and representing her Wellie colors the whole time. We can almost feel the salt air in our hair, too!

Be sure to come see Amanda at the front desk Wednesday through Friday and ask about her vacation, and shop the Curiosity Shop for a boost of holiday spirit Wednesday through Sunday!

There's truly nothing we love more at The Welman Project than fan mail! It totally warms our lil' ol' Wellie hearts when educators share with us what their students have been up to and how they're utilizing creative reuse materials in the classroom.

Last month, Michele Wright of Green B. Trimble Technical High School wrote us this email and attached photos of what her environmental science students have been working on:

"My students had a project where they created 3D Models of organisms, wrote an essay about their animal, and made Google slides about their organism and its interactions with other species and its environment. Then, they collaborated with their groups to create an educational poster, a hands-on learning tool (many opted for Kahoots/Quizziz/Jeopardy games, hence the QR codes), a biome map, and a 3D Diorama to contain their individual models. We could not do it without you, your donors, and the supplies from The Welman Project!"

Thank you so much for your email sharing your students' projects and for allowing us to beam with pride over everyone's imagination and hard work. Be sure to keep us updated on what next semester has in store!

Sparkling windows just in time for our holiday display! Thank you to Texas Best Window Cleaning for this fabulous gift. Don't forget to come do your holiday shopping in our Curiosity Shop!

Texas Best is cleaning windows at The Welman Project! We are extremely grateful to be working with an organization that supplies thousands of teachers with essential supplies for their classroom at no charge!
Please consider donating to support their mission
https://thewelmanproject.org/garage/volunteering/

"How did you do that?"

That's one of our favorite questions here at The Welman Project. We love asking it, we love answering it, and we love being able to be a part of how our educators do it.

And when you can't find what you need at The Welman Project, we're here to help you find a creative alternative. In our Dad's Garage makerspace, we can make anything happen (probably)! We host Makerspace Lab for our registered educators Wednesday and Thursday afternoons from 3 p.m. - 6 p.m. and on Sundays from 9 a.m. - to 6 p.m., where you can always find a Wellie ready to help you figure out just how to do what you need to do!

Don't believe us? Here's Correy Sharkey of Alice Carlson ALC with her brand new set of blocks, made completely out of reuse wood found in our free educator warehouse and made with fun tools found in our Dad's Garage makerspace. Big thanks to Mrs. Sharkey for coming out to Makerspace Lab and for trusting The Welman Project and Master Maker Steven with your project!

Don't forget to get your sticker today if you haven't voted yet. Fort Worth Report has all the info you need on how to go vote and what you're voting on, and Tarrant voters can go to any polling place, so no excuses!

https://fortworthreport.org/2023/11/05/tomorrow-is-election-day-heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-bond-and-constitutional-amendment-election/

How many more sleeps til Santa? How many more nights until we light the first candle? How many more days until school is out? No, seriously. Countdown to Holiday Awesome with the Wellies, and let us provide you with a charcuterie of craft choices to create your own family countdown calendar. Wood bits, handmade trinket boxes, leather holiday shapes? Whether it’s 12 days or 8 nights, let’s make this awesome season the awesomest.

Register here: https://thewelmanproject.org/garage/shop/garage/workshops/all-age-workshops/holiday-awesome/

Last month we served 665 educators, distributed $138,926 worth of supplies, and rescued 19 dumpsters worth of material from landfill doom. Thank you to our donors, and to our volunteers who gave 618 hours to make it all happen!

Halloween may be over but we're still obsessing over all the great reuse projects teachers and students pulled off this year. Katy Fowler's kids used old banners and streamers from Welman to make webs, pumpkins, caution tape, and even Frankenweenie! What an awesome hallway display!

Have you been looking for a new way to spend your mornings or afternoons? Maybe you have some extra time during the holiday season and are looking to earn some extra service hours. Well, have we got the opportunity for you!

The Welman Project is looking to expand our already incredible group of volunteers. Whether you're interested in coming weekly or just for a couple of hours a month, we would love to have you join us! Plus, we're super fun to hang out with. 🤩

Read more about signing up for singular shifts or how to join our Wellie Squad by visiting thewelmanproject.org/volunteer or text or call 817-924-4000.

"Does the person have glasses? Does the person love creative reuse? Is the person Iris Portalatin of Grace E Hardeman Elementary School"

Iris is a frequent shopper at The Welman Project's free educator warehouse, and though she may be small, she doesn't think small!

Iris' creativity and ability to turn reused materials into magic are only a few of the things that make her everyone's favorite art teacher. When it was time to prepare for Haltom High School's Homecoming parade, Iris headed straight to The Welman Project for supplies to build her school's float. Using some blue PVC pipe and cones, this clever educator constructed the beautiful balloon arch pictured above. Way to totally bring the school spirit, Mrs. Portalatin, and we sure hope you won a costume contest!