Gloucester Daily Times
August 5, 2006

Tarr paints Kermit to help local children

By All Hands

Kermit the Frog could be sitting on your porch in September. Or at least a chair with a painting of the "Sesame Street" character done by state Sen. Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester.

As part of the Chairs for Children initiative set up by Pathways for Children, Tarr will be raffling off his youth-sized chair. One of 11 small chairs, and 45 chairs in all, Tarr's mahogany piece is offered up in a free raffle for the community.

"The auction tickets cost $100 so we wanted everyone in the community to be able to participate in something," said Susan Stendahl, director of development at Pathways.

Raffle tickets are available at the Chamber of Commerce at 33 Commercial St., where the chair, titled "Sesame Street Sitter," is on display. The winner will be chosen Tuesday, Sept. 5.

(Courtesy Photo)

Sen. Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester, with the chair, "Sesame Street Sitter," which he painted. The samll Adirondack chair will be raffled on Sept. 5th.

While he has never really painted before, Tarr said he did all the work himself with some guidance from Juni Van Dyke, the arts coordinator at the Rose Baker Senior Center.

"I feel good about the end product," he said. "And even if I don't have talent there is a lot of talent on Cape Ann, and it shows in the chairs."

Tarr will also be the auctioneer, along with Jack Good, at the group's Chairs for Children Gala Sept. 16. He said the auction should be exciting and competitive.

The 10 youth chairs will be sold through a silent auction while the larger chairs will be auctioned live. Stendahl and the nonprofit agency expect to raise more money than the $140,000 collected two years ago at the "Lobster Landings" auction.

"People are already calling, telling us they have an eye on a particular chair," Stendahl said.

The money from the auction will be used solely for programs to benefit children. With programs such as Head Start and after-school programs and other educational-based initiatives, Pathways supports more than 400 children, from newborns to 12-year-olds, in Gloucester, Essex, Manchester and Rockport.