Amid the Coronavirus pandemic, residents around town have decided to show their support for essential workers by displaying signs outside their houses. Front lawns, doors, and windows flourish with big red hearts signifying hope and gratefulness. 

Driving the main streets and backroads of the now sleepy town of Scituate, you’ll see wooden pallet signs against trees, garlands in windows, and red hearts on telephone poles. These symbols of support usually showcase high school athletes; however, during the recent pandemic, Class of 2020 parent, Allison Startzell, and SHS art teacher Sheryl  Pace both wanted to create expressions of gratitude for health care providers. 

“My original inspiration was to support my fellow health care workers,” says Startzell, who started making signs as a nice distraction from the tense environment of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where she works as a cardiovascular technician. 

With the help of her boyfriend, Police Chief Michael Stewart, and her two sons, SHS senior Hayden and junior Nolan, Startzell crafted over 160 picket fence heart signs for the town. Since then, they have made many more, and her initiative has turned into a beacon of hope for the town.

After gaining popularity with this project on the Facebook group “Scituate Monthly~Our Town,” she teamed up with Scituate Community Christmas to help raise money for their mission, which is to assist families who are in need of support during times of hardship. “I just want to thank those that have donated. All the hearts around town mean so very much to our healthcare workers,” said Startzell.

Scituate High School art teacher Sheryl Pace also wanted to honor healthcare workers by extending the “Hearts for Heroes” initiative to her students. She said students could work with paper, cardboard (pizza box, Amazon packaging), fabric, sewing, paint, nature (rocks, sand, seashells, sticks), wood, old furniture, etc., for the project, which had to include a heart made of some type of media. “I could tell they were really proud to display and showcase their work in their neighborhoods and around town,” explained Pace.

During this difficult time, it is truly heartwarming to see the community of Scituate uniting in this small display of love. Though it may not solve the crisis, it does bring a little joy into everyone’s day–and maybe that’s the best thing we can do.