September Community Outreach
Dear Friends of Project Write Now:
🎉 We’re celebrating 11 years!
This month marks Project Write Now’s 11th anniversary, and we couldn’t be more grateful for the community that has grown with us. Over the past decade, our programs have shown—again and again—the importance of writing and storytelling.
At a time when we may be feeling more divided and isolated from one another, Project Write Now provides an antidote through our expressive writing programs. Sharing words and stories creates meaningful connections by helping us understand one another better, generating renewed hope for what is possible in our world today.
To celebrate 11 years and YOU, our community who have made it all possible, we’d love for you to join us at our Community Celebration on Wednesday, October 22, from 5 to 8 p.m. at Two River Theater in Red Bank.
From an opening reception to a special commemorative show to a joyful toast, it will be an evening filled with inspiration, gratitude, and celebration!
For our 11th birthday, we invite you to join our mission of renewing hope and connection through storytelling. Your gift today helps us continue offering life-changing programs that create welcoming spaces for people of all ages and backgrounds to express themselves, share their stories, and be heard.
Together, we can continue to build a community where every voice matters.
With love & gratitude,
Here’s what else we’ve been up to this month. If you are interested in bringing a community outreach program to your school or mission-based organization, email Meredith Avakian, Director of Community Outreach & Engagement, at meredith@projectwritenow.org.
Asbury Park Public Library Youth Journaling Club
Our Youth Journaling Club at Asbury Park Public Library kicked off the fall season with weekly drop-in sessions. The students had so much fun decorating their journals with stickers and journaling about the intentions they wish to set for themselves this school year. The group meets Tuesdays at 3:15 p.m. Though it targets middle school students, all students are welcome.
Author Reading Q&A with Laura Julier
We had a wonderful virtual gathering on September 17 as we hosted acclaimed memoirist Laura Julier for a reading from her award-winning memoir Off Izaak Walton Road: The Grace That Comes Through Loss, followed by an engaging discussion with fellow memoirist Penny Guisinger about Laura’s creative process and the vulnerable work of writing about profound loss. It was exactly the kind of intimate, inspiring evening that reminds us why we gather as writers—to learn from each other’s stories and craft, and to be moved by the transformative power of well-told truth.
Collier Group Home (Red Bank)
This month we did an ekphrastic writing workshop with nine incredible young women from Collier Group Home. Ekphrastic writing is writing inspired by visual art. As an example, we read “At the End of the World Is Forgetting” by Dick Westheimer. Then we looked to the image that inspired that poem to see how he drew his inspiration. We then wrote our own ekphrastic pieces using either the same image or another piece of art in the room to inspire us. We were thrilled when the majority of the group volunteered to share their work! We loved writing with this group and look forward to more workshops together in the future.
Community Playmaking at Asbury Park Library
We wrapped up our third Community Playmaking session with a vibrant showcase at Parlor Gallery in Asbury Park on Thursday, September 25. Nine emerging playwrights had the thrill of seeing their words brought to life by professional actors—cast and directed by our incredible partners at Two River Theater. This session featured the most Jersey-inspired plays yet, celebrating the playwrights’ deep love and gratitude for the Jersey Shore and Asbury Park in particular. We are so grateful for our collaboration with Two River Theater, which makes this inspiring program possible.
Keansburg High School
This month, we went to Keansburg High School to meet with seniors (and some motivated juniors!) about the college essay process. During the 90 minute workshops, we talked about drafting, the structure of the essay, and how students can find a story that only they can tell. Using writing prompts, students began brainstorming and we talked with students one-on-one to explore their ideas. Many students started writing their essay during the workshop and left with a topic. We look forward to working with the students individually to help them write and polish essays they feel confident and excited about!
Lunch Break – Alliance for Success
We’re so excited to be back at Alliance For Success this year. We kicked off the school year, helping seniors begin their college essays. With the juniors, we talked about the benefits of journaling and how writing can help them manage stress and understand themselves better.
Lunchtime Write-In
Every Friday, writers meet on Zoom to write and share our stories. This month, we explored the themes: “Five,” “Root,” “Moon,” and “Scar.” We love the writing community that has formed in this weekly group. Join us for our next Lunchtime Write-In to see what our upcoming theme will be!
Morning Pages
This month, committed writers met in Morning Pages for an hour every weekday, from 8 to 9 a.m. ET, to write together. Want to join us? Sign up for October’s Morning Pages and write with us any weekday through the month!
The Salvation Army
Inspired by the “Sound Bytes: Stories & Food for the Soul” event we hosted as part of the Prudential North to Shore Festival at The Salvation Army in Asbury Park with City of Asbury Park Mayor’s Wellness Committee, we returned to the space in September to help facilitate a workshop for its Kids Club. For this special workshop, our friends from the delicious Cardinal Provisions restaurant in Asbury Park came in to do a hands-on pizza-making session with 40 elementary school students and we led a food-themed journaling session. Huge thanks again to our friends at City of Asbury Park Mayor’s Wellness Committee for helping to provide all of the fresh, organic produce and other food ingredients! PS: Special thanks to The Salvation Army not only for having us back, but also for lending us chairs for our community playmaking showcase at Parlor Gallery!
Shore House
We were thrilled to come back to Shore House this month for our twice monthly expressive writing program. We opened with a check-in asking writers to tell us how they were feeling on a scale from 1-5. (Most were in the 3 range.) Then we did a sound bowl warm-up before reading “I Owe You a Poem” by Matt Mason. We used lines from the poem as writing prompts (“I’m not …” “I don’t …” “I know …” “I would like to …”) and then we shared our words. We were thrilled when we did the check-out that almost every writer moved up to a 5—proof that writing has a lot of healing power!
True Colors: A Storytelling Celebration
Wow! We are so thankful to all who came together to make True Colors the magical evening that it was. Firstly, we would like to thank Monmouth Arts for giving us the inspiring space to host our event. Secondly, we have to shout out our amazing featured readers—Briana Butler, Mary Lou Killian, and Thomas McCormack—you set the tone and kept us all on the edge of our seats. Speaking of readers, thirdly, we want to thank every person who added their name to the bucket and spontaneously shared their stories. And last but not least, we are most grateful to YOU, our community, who came together to honor and support LGBTQ+ voices. We look forward to hosting more events like this in the future. Stay tuned!
Write Out Loud
We had a great time at September’s Write Out Loud event at the Asbury Book Cooperative. We read “To the Light of September” by W. S. Merwin then used lines from the poem to inspire new works. The lines included: “when you are already here,” “you appear to be,” “a name that tells of you,” and “broken shadows.” After sharing new writing, we opened the floor for writers to share outside works as well. We loved getting to hear everyone’s diverse voices and inspiring stories. Join us on October 14 for our next Write Out Loud event!
Scholarship Seats
Through our mission as a nonprofit organization, we remove barriers to participating in our fee-based classes by providing full and partial scholarship seats as well as payment plans. Since 2020, we’ve seen a dramatic increase in the need for financial assistance and therefore have met that need by offering more scholarship seats. So far this year, we’ve provided 38 seats totaling $11,559.00. For information about our scholarship program or to become a valuable donor providing these seats, please email Jennifer Chauhan at jennifer@projectwritenow.org.
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