By Ed Pierce
Managing Editor
As someone who has reported the news for quite a while, I’ll
be the first to admit it’s very easy to become jaded with the seemingly
never-ending parade of tragic accidents, violent crime, political corruption,
destructive storms, missing people, crucial town budget issues, taxes and
racial intolerance. So when someone does something kind for someone else, it easy
to overlook that sort of gesture in the 24-hour news cycle.
Several years ago, I had the good fortune of meeting a young Maine
girl who believes in helping others and expressing her creativity while doing
it. Emma Brennan is now 9 and has been making multimedia sculptures from sand,
shells, driftwood and pinecones since she was just 5 years old. She sells her colorful
creations online and then uses the proceeds to purchase food for animals currently
residing in shelters and for other pet rescue organizations.
In 2017, Emma made one for Jacob Thompson, the 9-year-old Saco
boy who loved penguins and was dying tragically from Neuroblastoma cancer. She
also created two more sculptures in 2018 upon learning of the deaths of former
First Lady Barbara Bush and President George H.W. Bush and left them for the
Bush Family at their Walker’s Point compound in Kennebunkport because she found
out how much the couple loved animals.
She works on these animal-themed sculptures at her family’s kitchen
table and is involved in every aspect of them, everything from fusing the sand
for a sculpture base together with glue, to shopping for and then selecting
animal figurines to adorn each piece and hand-painting each sculpture she
creates herself. She even goes to the beach to collect the sand she uses for
them.
She sells her animal sculptures online at Emma Brennan’s Rock
Message on Facebook, and to date she’s sold dozens of them to people in Alaska,
California, Nevada, Oregon, Florida, Virginia, Massachusetts, Rhode Island,
Idaho, Arizona, Texas, Arkansas and even to families overseas in England and
St. Martin’s.
This story all started when her grandmother, Judy Chambers,
found a painted rock. Emma got an idea to make animal creations but to use her
creativity and artistic ability to help stray, lost or suffering animals.
Emma told me she merely wanted to do something nice for any
animal who had been hurt and wanted to use the project to show love and
kindness to all of God’s creatures.
At first, she’d find a suitable rock, paint it and then leave
it in random locations for people to find, She distributed those rocks inscribed
with the message, “Love for all animals. Find me, post me, re-hide me.”
That led to more elaborate and themed sculptures as she got
older and eventually a successful Facebook page, all done with love on behalf
of suffering animals and a truly supportive family.
Once a sculpture has been sold, Emma and her grandmother will
go to the store and purchase large bags of dog food and cat food and they then
take them to the local shelter to be used by animals there.
She’s not even out of grade school yet, but Emma remains fully
committed to the project. She takes no salary for her work and does this 12
months a year, because as she says, animal suffering doesn’t take a vacation,
and somebody has to show them love and that somebody does care about them.
Whether she knows it or not, even at such a young age this
little girl has tapped into the true spirit and meaning of the holiday season.
She is doing something unselfishly and without any ulterior motive that is
meant to improve the lives of animals in need of help and assistance.
She’s not just talking about doing something of worth for her
community, she actually saw a need, stepped up and continues to make a
difference without requiring compensation or fanfare. Emma does this out of
pure love and a sincere desire to make things better for innocent creatures
struggling for survival.
It’s too bad more of us couldn’t take a cue from Emma Brennan
and do something similar at Christmas and throughout the year just like she is
doing.
Wouldn’t the world be a much better place if we did? <
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