They paint all day, it’s their existence. Colors on their hands, the aroma of paint in the atmosphere. It makes them feel like a family, like a home.

Art club is painting artwork for the residents of the Texarkana Friendship Center with the goal of finishing in October.

The Texarkana Friendship Center helps feed over 180 people a day and provides groceries for 14 families daily. This center also helps with people who in the past were unemployed and could not get help to be trained and to have certification for employment in the future.

Art teacher Shea Phillips, the sponsor of the art club, has inspired her students to bring happiness and empowerment toward others.

“Since we have such an active art club, and we have so many club members, this would be such a great project while earning us some community service hours and especially making our bond stronger,” Phillips said. “We want to bring a little brightness and a little cheer to the Friendship Center and help make it a more welcoming place for those who walk in or live there.”

Lending a hand in community service provides the art club members with the opportunity to become active in the community and have a positive impact on the Texarkana society. Community service enables the members to acquire the realization of a different lifestyle that many have to face everyday. This helps provide a service to those who need it the most.

“I want the people who live or go there to know that they are not alone in this world, that there’s help, and that people care about them,” Harris said. “I want the people who see our art to feel inspired and just happy.”

The club members will make colorful nature-based paintings. Harris is a member who has been inspired by the Friendship Center and wants to provide empowerment to their artwork.

“My painting is going to be filled with vibrant colors, and the background is going to be a lot of colorful splatter paint,” Harris said.