Art of Living

The Art of Living meets a unique need on the East Lancaster corridor by focusing primarily on providing support and enrichment to children and youth experiencing homelessness, primarily age 7-17. We are committed to working as a partner with the organizations providing shelter to families by offering a safe space and enriching activities for children and teenagers while they’re here. By doing so, the entire family benefits. Parents can focus on their own healing and program goals more effectively when they know their children are somewhere safe. 

Our Saturday enrichment programs are at the heart of our mission. Homelessness results in trauma and stress, particularly for children and teens. The goal of our Saturday programs is to alleviate some of that stress and give kids the opportunity to just be kids. To get outside. To see things beyond what they see at school or at the shelter. To dream big. Saturday programs vary, depending on the weather and the time of year, but may include creating art, taking a trip to the zoo, jumping at a trampoline park, catching a movie, or our favorite – spending the day riding bikes on the beautiful Trinity Trails. In fact, we have a bicycle repair shop right here on property to make sure that our fleet of bicycles stays in good working order.

We significantly expanded our summer programming in 2022, providing more than 1,000 hours of enrichment programming to 51 children and teens. Summer activities included field trips to the Reby Cary Youth Library and the Kimbell Art Museum, as well as financial literacy classes provided by our partners at Chase. "What's Cookin' Wednesdays" was another highlight of the summer when the kids got to learn how to cook something new every week in our on-site kitchen, taught by our volunteer chef, Mr. Tai.