The Tutor Corps Foundation awarded junior Lily Buder the $250 Susan Lindquist Community Service Grant on February 25. Buder received the grant for the volunteer program she has created in partnership with Bridge the Gap, which provides tutoring services and college prep courses to K-12 grade students in the Marin City area. Buder’s program is called Providing Art Supplies for Success (PASS), and aims to bring art instruction to students.

“Bridge the Gap does a really good job of offering educational and career opportunities to people and creating a safe haven for students,” Buder said. “But I also think that letting your emotion and creativity out is a key part of success.”

The Susan Lindquist Grant is awarded twice a year by the San Francisco-based tutoring organization Tutor Corps. The grant, which offers $250, $500 or $750, goes to support volunteer programs run by students from 6th to 11th grade.

“I’ve always really loved being around kids,” Buder said. “I really love teaching, creativity, just spending time with kids and knowing that I can help them. I work with a little girl named Rachel, a fourth grader, and she’s so creative and I can see how PASS would really benefit her. We just need the materials to allow it.”

Thanks to the grant money, as well as plans for future fundraising, Buder’s dream could become a reality as early as this April. According to Buder, PASS is currently in its production phase, as Buder and her advisors, Bridge the Gap founder Denni Brusseau and educational director Alvin Gilmore, seek out donors willing to give supplies to the program.

PASS will focus on providing a cost-free creative outlet for students who may not have an opportunity to be exposed to the arts. The program will include painting, drawing, creative writing and even computer programs such as Photoshop.

“I think PASS will allow for students to fully express themselves in ways that they wouldn’t normally be allowed in a school situation,” Buder said. “Art is a really powerful thing, and I want to share it with the students.”