Colouring in to support outreach programme

MATAFFIN - The world is one big family and we need to help one another. We should give to and help one another without expecting anything in return. David McCarthy (70), a resident of Lily Care Retirement Village, is an example of this.

During lockdown McCarthy started to colour in pictures to pass the time. “Initially it was lockdown that made me start colouring in in a book called

Joy for the Journey. Each day, I would spend at least three hours working on a page,” he said.

McCarthy’s neighbours were so impressed that they were willing to buy his creations.

After a friend, Jann Knobel, told him about St Michael’s Anglican Church’s Starfish Outreach Project, he decided to donate his earnings to this outreach programme.

“I would like to thank her for her kind support and significant help with this art initiative.

She has been a strong mentor. Without her input it would not have come to pass,” he said.

St Michael’s in Mbombela was inspired by a well-known story, The Star Thrower by Loren Eiseley to start the project. The story is about an old man who was walking on the beach after a storm. The beach was littered with starfish. The man saw a young man throwing them back into the sea, and asked him what he was doing. “I am throwing the starfish back into the ocean, the sun is out and they will dry and die,” the young man replied.

The man looked at the countless starfish littered on the beach and said,”I am afraid you won’t make much of a difference.” The young man picked up another one and threw it back to the ocean, replying, “I made a difference to that starfish.”

McCarthy told Lowvelder that the outreach programme gives monthly food parcels to orphaned and vulnerable children in the Clau-Clau and Zwelisha areas.

His artworks sold for more than over R3 500 and all the earnings were donated to the church. “Lily Care’s Vicky Venter played a huge role in this inititative as she posted an artwork on Facebook and it sold for R500 instantly,” said McCarthy. His works were sold all over the country (Cape Town and Johannesburg) and even overseas (London). Each piece of art is sold at R100. If you are interested in purchasing one or more, you can contact Andrea Vinson of the Starfish Outreach Project on 083-290-2230.