An East Ladner girl’s desire to thank front line workers as well as the rest of us for following social distancing protocols turned into quite the neighborhood art project.
Nine-year-old Sophia Batista had initially started chalk art and made a stained glass chalk window when a neighbour asked her to make a heart in the middle of 63A Street. What happened over the next five days was really magical, says Sophie’s mom, Cari Hawthorne-Batista.
Many of the children in the neighbourhood were interested in participating in the project but COVID-19 social distancing protocols made that a challenge.
Thankfully, the heart was large enough that siblings from three households were able to work on it together while still maintaining social distance.
Hawthorne-Batista says it was very healing for the children to interact safely with their peers and it brought back laughter, joy and community connectedness for every person that walked by to take a photo and ask about the children’s art work.
“It has somehow reconnected our neighbourhood to feel OK to stop and connect safely and socially with the community and each other so as not to be so afraid,” says Hawthorne-Batista.
