ART FROM THE HEART

Since the beginning of the pandemic, a wave of gratitude has swept across Atlanta.

Neighborhoods have cheered nurses and doctors at the end of their shift.

The Blue Angels roared across the skies.

And so many have donated meals and masks. Today, we offer perhaps one of the most heartwarming salutes to those on the front lines: a special section to thank essential employees who kept metro Atlanta going throughout the pandemic.

The idea for the section — Art from the Heart: Kids Thank the Front Lines — stemmed from discussions among The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s editors and leaders.

We knew we had an important role to keep our community informed with vital information and in-depth reporting. But part of our journalistic mission includes shining a light on people and positive stories that inspire Atlanta.

We hope that this special section does just that. We’d like to thank all the children — and their parents — for participating.

The response was overwhelming, so much so that we could only publish some of the artwork in this special section.

We invite you to also visit www.ajc.com/artfromtheheart/ where each entry is proudly displayed. We hope you will share the digital art gallery on social media so these young talented artists — and our front-line heroes — receive the recognition they deserve.

Two final notes worth sharing:

We will be delivering extra copies of this section to hospitals and other front-line partners so they may tuck this away as a keepsake and reminder of the community’s appreciation.

We’re also sharing these drawings with the Georgia Historical Society so they can become part of their permanent COVID-19 archives.

It’s an honor for us to present this artwork — and to celebrate everything that makes our community so strong.

Sincerely,