Tracey Rose does a lot of planning and preparation for her art sessions at Kid First Family Shelter.
We have kids of all ages and interests staying with us, and Tracey creates a variety of projects to make their minds jump and their fingers itch. Sometimes, she’ll have a happy crowd in her workshops: joyful, focused kids drawing, pasting and painting.
But the families that stay at the shelter often have challenges around transportation or scheduling. And sometimes a kid will be there, but he’ll want to play a video game—not draw. So, sometimes Tracey will work with a smaller, quieter group.
The last time she came, there was only Angelina, a curly-haired 5-year-old girl who wasn’t sure what she wanted to do with her afternoon.
“I kind of grabbed her,” Tracey says. “’I have lots of fun things’ I told her. ‘Do you want to do art?’” Like a true professional, Tracey gave Angelina a great time. She had three projects with her that day and Angelina chose to make a necklace. Tracey helped her design her pattern, string the beads and secure it around her neck. “She was showing it off. She loved it,” Tracey says.
“But I was feeling disappointed. When you’re planning, you always have an idea of how things are going to go. And this wasn’t it. I wanted more kids.”
Then Angelina asked: “Why do you come here?”
“It was great that she asked me that,” Tracey says. “I thought about it. She made me think about it. And I told her it’s because I love creating art and I love sharing with people. Her smile after that was so big.”
Then Angelina wanted to do more. They made a bracelet for her mom to match the necklace Angelina had made for herself. Her Dad teased and asked where his present was. Tracey and the little girl quickly made him a Valentine’s rock.
“My face hurt I was smiling so hard,” Tracey says. “To be able to give a child something to hang onto, something to create, the opportunity to say, ‘Look what I did and I’m giving it to you,’ that’s wonderful. It lifted her. It made her laugh. What’s better than that?”
We are grateful that Tracey gifts us with her talent, her joy and her flexibility. We are grateful for the lift she provides the kids at COTS—sometimes for many of them, and sometimes for just one precious girl.
COTS kids are not the only ones to benefit from Tracey’s generosity. You can find her reading stories in the children’s area at Copperfield’s once a month. She’s the one who brings in her own stick puppets and her felt board and characters. She’s also a volunteer for Verity, providing outreach education for grade school kids on the difficult topics of staying safe and being body aware. And she volunteers with Marin’s Bread and Roses, shepherding great bands to convalescent hospitals, schools, community centers and shelters.
She and her husband Jeremy are both teachers, but both have had long and varied careers, and Tracey has never been far from a paint brush, sewing machine or paper bead jewelry. They met at Cinnabar Theater in the 1970s. Tracey was starring in “Spoon River Anthology” and her soon-to-be-husband Jeremy was designing and running the lights. By the time the next production was in rehearsal, they’d married. Living in Marin, they raised two talented and “fierce” daughters. They moved back to Petaluma 14 years ago and celebrate their 43rd anniversary this year.
Thank you, Tracey!
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