Marissa Halbig
Urbanna Oyster Festival Queen contestant Marissa Halbig and her Little Miss Spat contestant Skylar Beverley are still working hard on their art supply bag program for the less fortunate youth in our community.
Halbig believes exposing children to a more positive and beneficial outlet, such as art, gives them the opportunity to express themselves freely and safely.
With this in mind, Halbig created an art supply bag program called “Happy Creations For Happy Kids.” Halbig said art was a great way for her to get through the struggles of everyday life. She hopes she can give the youth in our community that same opportunity she was so lucky to have been given. “I’ve struggled with depression and confidence issues for most of my life, said Halbig. “Art was the one thing that helped me cope with my own worst critic . . . me.
“I wanted to give underprivileged children in our community that might be dealing with their own inner demons that same chance. The chance to create something beautiful and feel proud of themselves that they too can create a masterpiece with a little help,” she said.
Project
Halbig teamed up with Middlesex County Public Schools to give at least 10 supply bags to each Middlesex County Public School: Middlesex Elementary School, St. Clare Walker Middle School and Middlesex High School.
However, Halbig and Beverley first had to raise funds for their program. For her first fundraiser Halbig chose to host a communal fine arts vendor event on July 13. During the event a select amount of local vendors would be showing and teaching young artists different mediums of art. There would be a variety of vendors available to interact with the young artists. All proceeds from the event would help fund the “Happy Creations for Happy Kids” bag program. Halbig and Beverley did a lot of preparing and advertising for their vendor event. Their advertising included vendor admissions, Facebook page, flyers, newspaper article, and personal interviews with local artists. Halbig also set up a GoFundMe page to help fund the “Explore Your Imagination” event. She also included a donation box for art supplies, which was placed in the Urbanna Library for two weeks. Unfortunately, even with all their hard work put into advertising and a donation box, their event fell short due to lack of interest and lack of vendors.
Even though they were feeling defeated they continued to push forward. So Halbig and Beverley went around to local businesses such as Urbanna Market and Deltaville Market to set up bake sales to hopefully raise funds for their supply bags. Their first bake sale was on June 15 at Urbanna Market where they raised a total of $113. On June 29 they had their following bake sale at Deltaville Market where they raised a total of $215. For their last and final bake sale on July 5 they joined in with the community of Urbanna to celebrate its annual fireworks show and raised a generous amount of $103.
Halbig and Beverley hosted their final fundraiser on August 3 called “Pancakes & Painting.” It was held at Clarksbury United Methodist Church where they had all-you-can-eat pancakes with a ticket price of $5 for children, and $10 for adults, or all-you-can-eat pancakes and painting for a ticket price of $15 per person. Halbig and Beverley also had a silent auction table with several items. “I was grateful to have received several donations for the silent auction items,” Halbig said. Including a handcrafted cup by Kelsey Briggs, the creator of Nehinome Creations, a Google Home Mini by a family member, and a tie-dye kit by an anonymous donor. Halbig also supplied the table with candles, hand towels, gel pens, which included an adult coloring book, and one of her own paintings. However, even with the auction table, and enough pancakes to feed a small army, the turnout wasn’t quite what she had hoped for. They only had 5 paying customers, and raised a total of $137. In spite of everything, Halbig and Beverley raised a hefty $1,225 to provide for their art supply bag program, thanks to several donations that include $240 from Clarksbury United Methodist Church, $100 from an anonymous donor, $60 from a family friend, and $150 from a family member. Halbig plans on showing her appreciation by giving out tie-dyed shirts to all of those who helped make her program happen.
Halbig moved to Middlesex County in January of 2008 where she attended Middlesex Elementary School and has been a resident here ever since. Halbig was homeschooled for all of her years in middle school. At 10 she started as a gymnast for the Middlesex Recreation Team and began the Junior Xcel program at age 12. She continued competing as a gymnast until the age of 14 when she began her high school education at Middlesex High School. Halbig joined the JV softball team along with the school’s cross-country team her freshman year. For her sophomore year she joined the girls JV basketball team and the girls varsity soccer team. In her junior year Halbig continued to play soccer and basketball.
Culinary arts
Halbig also started pursuing her culinary arts career through the Bridging Community program, where she helped prepare meals for a variety of banquets held at New Kent High School.
Halbig was involved with various extracurriculars including volunteering for Booster Club Band concessions, prom committee, homecoming committee, served as a band assistant for Middlesex High School Band, volunteered at a local community art event known as “Arts in the Middle,” and helped prepare monthly breakfasts at Lancaster Union Masonic Lodge. Halbig has not only worked hard in extracurricular activities, she has maintained a grade point average of 4.0 and has achieved the Superintendent’s Honor Roll as well as an honorable mention.
This summer Halbig was employed as a lifeguard at Bethpage Camp-Resort. During her senior year she hopes on turning the art supply bag program into a permanent, non-profit organization for the school system. After graduation Halbig plans on pursuing a career in culinary art and in the fine arts.
Halbig is the daughter of Joshua Halbig, and Brandy Teal of Water View, granddaughter of Joseph and Wendy Halbig of Hartfield, and Rocky and Betty Teal of Oak Island, North Carolina, and great-granddaughter of Shirley Warfield of Saluda.
Little Miss Spat
Halbig’s Little Miss Spat, Skylar Beverley, is a first-grader at Middlesex Elementary School. She is the daughter of Kashae Beverley, granddaughter of Diane Beverley and Sam Ware, and niece of Airiana Beverley. She loves running, playing outside, playing games with her friends, and driving her Barbie camper. She has an “I can do it” spirit about everything she does. She also loves Disney’s Descendants and wants to be Mal for Halloween. She participated in the Middlesex YMCA soccer and basketball programs. She also played T-ball this past summer. She’s currently a member of the Middlesex Gymnastics Pre-team. She is a member of the youth and young adult choir at her church, Calvary Baptist Church, and wants to be a teacher when she grows up.
