There’s something special, beautiful and downright magical about the receipt of a hand painted, handmade holiday card; a greeting designed with artistic talent and delivered with love. The residents of the Brooksville Healthcare Center discovered this recently, as they received a total of 140 holiday cards from the artists of the Nature Coast Art League. The mission of the Nature Coast Art League is to increase public awareness of and to promote the visual arts in Hernando County. The league hosts regular meetings as well as “Create Along” sessions.
President of the Nature Coast Art League, Linda Graves, stated, “Sometimes great ideas come at the midnight hour. Our treasurer Bonnie Young came up with a great idea for our Create Along group at Nature Coast Art League. Bonnie suggested making Christmas Cards for the residents at one of our local nursing homes. We gathered up our art supplies, brought them to our Create Along Group and created beautiful cards. A total of 140 to be exact!” These artist elves were determined to brighten the holidays of area seniors – creating vibrant, ebullient works of yuletide art that featured seasonal images of smiling snowmen, ornament balls every color of the rainbow, scenic wintry woodland illustrations, birds and animals of the season, and much more. “The morning flew by but we were determined to get the task done,” said Graves. “Our energy never dwindled!”
Bonnie Young packaged each card individually, displaying each greeting in a beautifully wrapped box. Then Bonnie Young and Linda Graves delivered them Dec. 7 to the “Brooksville Healthcare Center” just in time to be distributed to the residents before Christmas.
“They were delivered on Wednesday afternoon and presented to the delight of Brenda, the Activities Director,” said Graves. “She was so pleased to receive this beautiful gift that she will hand deliver it to the residents. She expressed how delighted they would be to be given a card created especially for them.”
Brenda Parish, activities director of the Brooksville Healthcare Center, is very grateful to the artists of the Nature Coast Art League for their grand expression of holiday cheer. “Every card is so unique, so beautiful,” she said.
Parish said that residents are also given the option to personalize and send the cards they received to loved ones, with the able aid of teen volunteers at Brooksville Healthcare Center. “We are all so grateful to the artists of the Nature Coast Art League for giving us these cards,” she said.
Graves is thankful to her league artists, for giving a little something special this holiday season. “A special thanks to all those who gave of their time, talents and supplies to make someone’s day a little bit brighter.”
