Art with a Heart Supports Alzheimer's Association

By: Stephanie Morrissey - Email

Posted: Tue 7:21 AM, Mar 27, 2012

FILE - In this Wednesday, April 9, 2008 file photo, Debbie Coluter, a certified nursing assistant, holds the hand of an elderly inmate with Alzheimer's disease, as she helps him to his cell at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville, Calif. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

Wanda Huls said she couldn't have gotten through her mother's death a year ago without them.

"My very first support group actually taught me what Alzheimer's was and how to describe it so that I understood because everyone needs a different definition," Huls said.

Art with a Heart is helping raise money for the Great Plains chapter of the Alzheimer's Association so they can spread the word about a disease that affects 37,000 Nebraskans.

People throughout Lincoln, without a close, personal connection to the disease, are making Art with a Heart possible.

Nate Blum is a financial analyst by day and Art with a Heart creator by night. Two years ago, he decided he wanted to start doing more to help organizations like the Alzheimer's Association.

"The mission of the Alzheimer's Association is one that I think we can all support. A lot of us are affected by Alzheimer's or know someone whose been affected by it. It's hard to go very far and find someone who hasn't been," Blum said.

Blum said creating events that make a difference, like Art with a Heart, are simple.

"I really want to encourage people to take the initiative and make a difference in their community. It doesn't take much more than time and talent to be able to do that. The rest kind of tends to come together with a little bit of work," Blum said.

The even included live music, cupcakes and a silent art auction.

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