Grayson and Langston White, ages 7 and 4, are growing up. As they transition from babies to toddlers to young men, their interests have and will change. Currently, the two are into superheroes, and their parents are teaching them during this phase how to be superheroes themselves.
The boys’ dad, Jason White, is a painter, and when he and his wife Stephanie were expecting Grayson, Jason painted a 48-inch by 48-inch painting of Winnie the Pooh and his friends. The painting is called Friends Helping Friends, and it hung in the nursery for the couple’s firstborn.
Until recently, the painting stayed in the nursery, but the boys have outgrown the soft lines of Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore helping Winnie the Pooh reach for a beehive full of honey. Now, they say, they want to redecorate their rooms in Batman and Superman themes.
Meanwhile, Jason met Taryn Sheets, executive director of the Searcy Children’s Home. The nonprofit agency helps families involved with foster care, and includes the Child Development Center — an area for up to eight foster children to stay during the day when their foster parents are at work. Sheets said it can be difficult on short notice to find the reputable day care services many foster families need, and this service helps make fostering easier.
It just so happens that the Child Development Center at Searcy Children’s Home is decorated in a Winnie the Pooh theme. When Jason learned about this, he pitched an idea to his family.
“He said that he thinks that that’s the place the painting needs to go,” Stephanie said of her husband’s notion. “We both discussed it and decided absolutely, that’s where it should go.”
Even though Jason and Stephanie thought the painting would do well at Searcy Children’s Home, it was important to talk to Grayson and Langston. The painting, after all, had been in their nursery since before they were born. Plus, this gave the parents a chance to teach them about giving to others.
When the boys were told how Searcy Children’s Home helps kids, they were immediately on board with donating the painting.
“My wife and I encourage the boys to follow their passion but always to put others first,” Jason said. “This is the first art donation the boys have been involved in, and I know it will not be the last. The experience has served as a teaching opportunity to encourage the boys to give back to society and help those in need. We are so happy to see that they have such a giving spirit.”
Sheets said this is the first time a family has donated a painting to the Searcy Children’s Home, and she was excited to get it hanging on a wall near the Child Development Center.
“We get donations of various things, but primarily people give funds to help the kids,” she said. While those donations are integral to the operations at the Searcy Children’s Home, it was a nice surprise to get something to hang on the walls of the office.
Sheets said the Child Development Center is a fairly small room, so the large painting will most likely be hung in the hallway leading up to the center. That way, it will still flow with the decor.
Grayson and Langston said they are happy the painting is going to Searcy Children’s Home.
“We wanted to give it to the kids that don’t have a family,” Grayson said. “It makes me very, very happy.”
That makes them more like superheroes than any room redecoration ever could.
Staff writer Angela Spencer can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or aspencer@arkansasonline.com.