Once a month, a room at the Our Lady Star of the Sea Parish Center fills with games, crafts, cooking, music, dancing and — most importantly — friends.
For about a year, Pathways to Friendship has been creating a place where adults with disabilities can meet, socialize and simply have fun. The free program draws about 15 to 20 participants from Marblehead and communities across the North Shore.
Now, the volunteers behind the program are hoping the community will help keep it going.
Pathways to Friendship will hold an art auction Nov. 14 at the parish center, across from Our Lady Star of the Sea Church, with a goal of raising $6,000 to $7,000. The money will help pay for monthly activities and make the volunteer-run program more self-sustaining.
The program was launched last fall by longtime Marblehead artist and former gallery owner Concetta “Connie” Donovan, whose adult daughter has a disability.
“It’s just something that I’ve always wanted to do,” Donovan said.
She raised the idea with others at the church.
“They said, ‘Let’s do it,’” Donovan said. “So, we did.”
A core group of volunteers now organizes a different activity each month, with others pitching in along the way. There have been pizza-making nights, bingo, movies, dancing, trivia, crafts and games. At one gathering, participants played basketball and cornhole. At others, they painted rocks or made ice cream sundaes.
The activities are part of the attraction. But the friendships are the point.
Joshine Goodwin, one of the participants, compared Pathways to Friendship to the youth group to which she belonged when she was younger — a place where differences matter less than kindness and respect.
“It’s like walking down a path and finding a way to meet new friends and old friends,” she said.
Goodwin described a place where people should not be judged because they speak, see or hear differently.
“What’s important … is to open the door to anyone who walks through,” she said. “You can always meet new friends and learn to trust.”
Pathways is open to adults with a range of disabilities, from people in their 20s through their 60s and older. Several participants are blind.
During a recent game day, a blind participant wanted to try cornhole. A volunteer stood beside her, handed her the beanbags and helped orient her toward the board.
“Am I pointing the right way?” she would ask.
The volunteer told her whether each toss landed short, long or near the edge. By the end, she had put seven beanbags through the hole.
“She had so much fun,” Lana Fiala recalled.
Unlike many organized programs, Pathways to Friendship is free, and there is no online registration system that shuts people out when an activity fills up. Organizers said accessibility has been central to its mission from the beginning.
Pathways is a ministry of Our Lady Star of the Sea, but participants do not have to belong to the parish or be Catholic. People of all faiths are welcome, and organizers say there is generally no religious component to the monthly activities.
So far, volunteers have largely paid for food, supplies and activities themselves.
“We all pitch in money,” Donovan said.
That is where the art auction comes in.
Donovan, who operated a Marblehead gallery for roughly 20 years, is tapping her connections in the local arts community. Nearly 40 works had been collected as of the time of her interview with the Current, with organizers hoping to have up to 50 by auction night.
The collection ranges from original paintings to numbered prints, lithographs and silkscreens. Donovan has contributed about 20 original oil paintings. Other artists represented include Elaine Daley and Tracy Finn, along with works by the late B. Wool. Organizers also have a Thomas McKnight and two pieces by French artist Michel Delacroix.
Organizers say there will be art at a wide range of prices, with some bidding potentially starting as low as $5 or $10.
The Nov. 14 event is scheduled for 6 to 8:30 p.m. and will primarily be a silent auction, although organizers are considering auctioning several premier works live.
They are also seeking artwork from the community. Donations do not have to come from artists themselves; organizers are interested in quality pieces people may have hanging at home and no longer want.
And they would especially like to know the story behind them.
“Tell us, ‘Hey, I got this when I went on vacation,’” volunteer Kevin McGuire said, explaining that even a few sentences about a piece’s history can make it more meaningful to its next owner.
For participants, the program’s value is less about any particular activity than knowing there is a place to return to — and people waiting there.
“I think it’s been good … meeting new people and being a place that you can go to talk to someone if you have problems,” said participant Marybeth Donovan.
Goodwin put the invitation more simply.
“Do not be scared or shy,” she said. “Try to open up and let us help you.”
