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NEWTOWN, CT — Two Newtown nonprofits have teamed up to shine some light into the lives of the town’s oldest residents, and their best friends.
The summer’s fourth “Paint with a Purpose” community event presented by Hearts of Hope Newtown Chapter for the Catherine Violet Hubbard Animal Sanctuary’s Senior Paw Project is Wednesday, 6 to 7:30 p.m., at 8 Commerce Road.
Based out of the sanctuary, the SPP serves 30 towns in Connecticut, providing critically needed pet food, veterinary care assistance and foster/respite care to senior pet owners struggling to keep or care for their animals. The SPP estimates it costs $1,180 to support one pet annually.
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Hearts of Hope was the brainchild of a grief counselor who felt helpless after 9/11 and decided she had to do more, according to the president of the organization’s Newtown chapter, Diane Sarna. Today, HoH chapters distribute painted and decorated ceramic hearts to “to spread kindness, compassion, healing and hope” where they operate in Stratford, Florida, northern New Jersey and Newtown.
“And we try to choose one particular organization where we can paint a lot of hearts,” Sarna said. “So last summer, we focused on bus drivers in Newtown. Every single bus driver received a heart. The year before that, the school teachers of Newtown. The summer series is about tackling a big number of hearts for an organization that’s near and dear to our heart.”
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Near and dear this year are the seniors and their Senior Paw Project pets. As they have three times already this summer, Connecticut residents will gather Wednesday to paint handmade clay Hearts of Hope and write a personal message of caring to be included in holiday gift packages distributed to seniors by the SPP.
“I think that oftentimes, as we age, we start to think, well, maybe we’re forgotten. And so the heart is really just a message of, ‘hey, we remember you, we care about you. And we want to help’,” Sarna said.
But the seniors and their companion animals aren’t the only Newtown residents who stand to benefit from the “Paint with a Purpose” confab, according to Sarna:
“It’s a great social thing, to have a circle of people, friends, neighbors, and kind of laugh for an hour and paint and look at one another’s maybe-not-so-artistic-heart, and know that it’s going to make someone smile. That’s a feel-good moment.”
There are still a few openings left. Email [email protected] to reserve your heart and brush.
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