W

hile trying new hobbies may be 
intimidating, exciting or both, one thing 
is certain: These experiences are more 
enjoyable surrounded by people who are in the same 
position as you. 
 JARC held its annual summer-long Hobbies 
and Hangouts, a program of Making Community 
Connections, that creates opportunities for the 
people they serve to learn a new hobby alongside 
the greater community. Introduced by JARC in 
2022, this year’s program attracted 40 people JARC 
serves and the greater community and provided an 
assortment of class options, with intentionally small 
class sizes to maximize interaction between students. 
 
 
 
 Classes ran once a week for three weeks and 
introduced a new leisure pursuit while creating and 
strengthening new friendships between classmates. 

This year’s Hobbies and Hangouts classes included 
the art of dessert decorating, color art, plant art 
and scrapbooking. Dessert decorating classes 
consisted of basic cookie decorating, advanced 
cookie decorating and cupcake decorating; the 
Color Series included the techniques of glass 
mosaic art, tie-dye and watercolor; the Plant Series 
classes created pressed flower art, terrariums and 
floral arrangements; Scrapbooking classes used 
participants’ personal photos to make creative photo 
pages.
Community member Shelby Bruseloff loved the 
concept of trying new things and meeting new 
people, especially the people JARC serves, and 
looked forward to the floral arranging class in the 
Plant Series, and scrapbooking with her photos from 
a trip this summer. Together with her husband, 

Tom, the Bruseloffs figured that attending the Plant 
Series would be something fun to do together but, to 
their surprise and delight, their conversations during 
class were primarily with their JARC classmates. 
 Their shared experiences with their new friends 
and each other made the learning experience 
entertaining and fun. Bruseloff describes the classes 
as full of laughter and support, and that her fellow 
JARC classmates made her excited to come back 
each week.

 
“It was really the people we met that made the 
classes so much fun,
” Bruseloff said. “We were all 
laughing together, encouraging and supporting each 
other. I am grateful for these experiences to learn a 
new hobby and meet people JARC serves alongside 
others in the greater community. I only wish I knew 
about the program sooner.
” 

PHOTOS COURTESY OF JEFF AISEN AND JARC

New Pursuits with New Pals at 
JARC’s Hobbies and Hangouts 

The Color 
Series class 
enjoys its 
session on 
tie-dye

Participants of the 
Plant Series listen to 
the class instructor 
to learn how to build 
their terrariums.

Community member Shelby Bruseloff 
smiles with her completed terrarium in 
Session 2 of The Plant Series.

Community member Karen places the final 
touches on one of her cookies in the first 
session of the dessert decorating hobby.

NOVEMBER 21 • 2024 | 39
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