T-shirts decorated by the children for the seniors will be delivered to St. Catherine's on Friday, June 15, at 2 pm. Artist Jordan Foster, an intern with Art with a Heart for Children, has worked with both age groups on this project and will be present for the T-shirt delivery.

The goal of the project was to bring together two institutionalized groups through art. T-shirts donated for the project were first decorated by the senior citizens, who wrote notes to be sent along with the T-shirts to patients at Wolfson Children's Hospital. In return, the children at Wolfson have decorated T-shirts for the seniors at St. Catherine's; they've also written notes to the seniors that will be delivered with the shirts. About 140 T-shirts have been decorated so far.

"Both the seniors and the children have embraced this project," says Kerrie Slattery, executive director of Art with a Heart for Children. "As they decorated shirts for the children, many of the seniors started talking about childhood memories. The children have shown compassion for the seniors and understand how they feel being in an institution."

The note from one of the children says, "I think sometimes we want to believe that we are separate, that generations do not understand each other, but really we are all just people, all here and all with the will to be and if we could erase these imaginary lines we create, I think that we could learn to see each other through a clearer lens. We could see the past in the future, and make the future better. All we need to do is reach out and touch, be."

Art with a Heart for Children is a nonprofit organization that is committed to providing hospitalized children with an opportunity for expression and creativity through fine art instruction. The program was founded in 2001 by cousins Lori Guadagno and Lisa Landwirth Ussery, whose dream was to improve the quality of life for hospitalized children through the healing power of art.