On February 5, 2025 Therapicasso continued to work hand in hand with local elementary schools in order to encourage quality time between parents and their kids. Therapicasso hosted their very first inaugural family art night event at Monterey Highlands Elementary School. The sole purpose of this event was to bring families closer together by working on these arts and crafts projects together.Through this event Therapicasso had three different stations, the comfort capsules, the hope blossom event, and the postcard event. 

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Family art night was definitely a big highlight at Monterey Highlands Elementary School with an estimated total of 60 participants present. As mentioned there are three different stations that were moved in a rotation every 15 minutes.Through this event not only do parents get the chance of bonding with their kids, they also get a sense of what Therapicasso does and strives towards which is encouraging their younger peers to be able to feel welcomed and have a safe space no matter where they are. 

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The Hope Blossom Activity was one of the three activities throughout this event. Through this activity parents and kids would work with the paper that was provided and make a flower whether it was through origami or drawing and cutting. In which, in the middle of the flower the kids would leave a hopeful message inside about their families, communities, or friends. After that the families would be assisted by either the high school volunteers from San Gabriel High School’s UNICEF club or one of the students from Monterey Highland’s ambassador program with tying a rope to the flower and if needed help hang the flower up onto the tree.

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The ambassador program made this event unique as 6-8 ambassadors that were 6th graders volunteered to be at this event. This program was one of the 3 pilot ambassador programs locally. This lets those 6th graders get a sense of what hosting community events are like and how nonprofit organizations like Therapicassso can inspire them to fight for their cause and what it means to step up.

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Comfort Capsules are tin boxes that were given to kids to be decorated by both them and their parents. Through this event both minds put on their creativity and work together to make a capsule that provides both comfort and a sense of hope during difficult times. These capsules are thoughtful and are expressing the kids’ or parents’ own imagination to show what kind of person they are and what their safe space looks like to them. This allows a different layer of vulnerability between the parents and kids’ connection. 

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Through this last and final activity, the Postcard Activity in which kids and parents would write a postcard to themselves about their emotions or during a time they felt really strong emotions towards someone they really love. There were many heartwarming moments between parents and their kids. However, one really stood out and it was a postcard made by a student named Kingsley. He dedicated this postcard to his mom with the words, “ To Mom : I hope you can finish your work so you can play with us more. “ This was an incredibly sentimental and touching moment between Kingsley and his mom especially since a lot of relationships between their kids aren’t transparent and they usually don’t disclose their struggles between one another. So this was a beautiful moment not only for Kingsley and his mom but for Therapicasso as well. Kingsley’s mom showed an understanding to him and even teared up a bit. This moment really shows what this event was really about, bringing families together and both parents and kids feeling comfortable enough to be transparent with each others’ wants and needs.