Community Partner: Arts For Hearts

Their creativity seems to know no bounds. In their hands, common paper turns into decorated journals, socks into gnomes and leaves into masterpieces. Arts for Hearts volunteers have been sharing their magic with the Steven A. Cohen Military Family Clinic at Centerstone for nearly two years. Now, despite physical distancing guidelines, they’re continuing to team up with the clinic by bringing their craftiness right to the homes of military families.

“We’ve all had to adjust these past few months,” Meghan Williams, the clinic’s outreach director said. “Arts for Hearts is no exception, but both these amazing volunteers and the team at the Cohen Clinic want to continue to support our military families and encourage engagement.”

Arts for Hearts is a local nonprofit dedicated to spreading the joy of creativity through various art projects.  Normally the group would conduct classes for a variety of local organizations, including inside the Cohen Clinic at Centerstone’s community room, but due to recent events they’ve had to find new ways to share their talents. This time that involved making 30 project magic wand material bags and shooting a video.

“We figure if we can’t gather in large groups for crafty fun, there’s no reason the fun has to end,” Rita Arancibia, the group’s founder, said. “So we gathered up the materials for our magic wand project, recorded a step-by-step video and will share that online.  By collaborating with the Cohen Clinic we can ensure our military families receive the bags and the link to the video.  Win for all, even if it’s just a little different delivery system.”

The clinic’s outreach team is spreading the word and engaging fellow veteran service organizations such as Team RWB to help identify military families that would enjoy the project.

“Who couldn’t use a little magic these days?” Williams said. “This simple project will definitely help with that, maybe in the best way possible, through children’s smiles.”

For more information on Arts for Hearts including upcoming projects, log onto the group’s website at https://www.artsforheartsclarksville.org/