Paint Love brings extraordinary arts programming that empowers youth and strengthens communities. Since 2014, the group has served over 18,000 young people, working with over 100 schools and youth-serving nonprofit partners in the Metro-Atlanta area, hundreds of artists of all kinds, and thousands of volunteers. Art is our vehicle, but the soul of our work is showing young people that their voice matters, their ideas are important, and their actions make a difference in changing the world.
I believe that every good thing a child experiences can help shape them into happy, responsible, fulfilled adults. That’s also why I write books for children. What adults read is consumed and forgotten, but what children read—or have read to them—shapes their sense of humor, worldview, and outlook on life.
This is the reason I volunteer and contribute to Paint Love.
Let me tell you about one project I led for Paint Love. It was with girls ages 13-15. That’s a difficult time of life anyway, but these girls had each experienced neglect within the foster care system, which resulted in them living in a residential program helping prepare them to re-enter the regular world. They were teens in need of some joy without judgment.
Sewing is a hobby of mine, so for the project we took old jeans and turned them into casual purses. The girls entered warily, arms crossed, unwilling to make small talk. But as we taught them how to sew, they loosened up. By the end of the session, the tension in the room was gone. These girls who had very few belongings now had cute custom-designed purses they themselves had created.
I’m also involved with Paint Love as a financial contributor. For about the price of a fast food meal each month, I’m providing supplies and support. The work Paint Love and its artists do matter. Not just for the few hours the children and teens are able to create without judgment, but maybe for their entire life. My small contribution can be "the pebble in the pond that ripples to the farthest ends of the pool.”
Lisa Lowe Stauffer, a longtime resident of Roswell, is the author of Two By Two, a rhyming board book for toddlers. She has been a Paint Love artist and donor since 2016.