Join the Fold: How you can be part of a community art project

This paid piece is sponsored by Children’s Home Society.

People of all ages from across South Dakota are creating origami swans and cranes for a community art project at Children’s Home Society.

The project, Join the Fold, will bring together a “flock” of 2,700 paper swans and cranes, which will be suspended from the ceiling of the new dining hall at Sioux Falls Children’s Home.

“Join the Fold is a movement, and it’s a case where the journey is just as important as the destination,” CEO Michelle Lavallee said.

“At Children’s Home Society, we help vulnerable children and families transform their lives by preventing, treating and healing trauma,” she said. “Origami is literally an act of transformation — taking an ordinary piece of paper and turning it into a graceful swan or crane.”

Origami swans and cranes are CHS’ symbol of transformation and hope. Creating art, such as origami, helps kids — and all people — find hope and healing.

“Our children are making origami birds in art class. Guests at the Shelter for Family Safety are creating origami birds in their spare time,” Lavallee continued.

Service clubs, church groups and corporate volunteers are getting together to fold. Board members and friends are folding with their families, she said.

“We’ve got mayors, business leaders, professors, local celebrities and everyone you can think of folding these swans and cranes!” Lavallee said. “We absolutely love that people statewide are joining us in this act of hope and healing, and truly becoming part of our community.”

Origami paper is available at any CHS location, and folded birds can be dropped off at any location. Instructions and instructional videos are available at CHSSD.org/JoinTheFold.

“The new dining hall will be ready later this summer,” Lavallee said. “The birds will be hung near a tall window that overlooks our pond, so they will be bathed in light.”

Displays at Children’s Home Shelter for Family Safety and the new Black Hills Children’s Home campus will follow.

One of the special aspects of the project is that you can write a note on the paper before folding. “People write words of encouragement or express their hope and love,” Lavallee said.

Staff, who also are folding swans and cranes in meetings and during lunch hours, are especially excited to see the reaction of the children when they first see the installation. “They’ll look for the birds they folded,” Lavallee said. “And they’ll see right before their eyes how many people in the community support them and want them to heal.”

For full directions on folding and more information, click here.

If you host a fold, please take photos or videos and post them on social media, tagging Children’s Home Society and using #JointheFold and #CHSSD.

If you have additional questions, please contact Faron Lais at 605-965-3101 or [email protected], or in Rapid City contact Kara Flynn at 605-430-7693 or [email protected].