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Dalton family creates kindness project for Shady Lawn residents

Carson, 12, Annabelle, 9, and Elliana Combs, 5, of Dalton, with help from parents, Elizabeth and Joe Combs, put together 100 bunnies with messages on the back to give to Shady Lawn residents for Easter. (PHOTOS PROVIDED BY LYDIA WARSTLER)

DALTON A Dalton family hopped right in to a kindness project last month.

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis has resulted in many changes and disruptions in daily life, including an extension of students learning remotely and a stay-at-home order in Ohio until at least May 1. This also means that residents in nursing homes and assisted living centers are not allowed visitors.

So the Combs family got to work.

Just in time for Easter, Carson, 12, Annabelle, 9, and Elliana, 5, with help from parents, Elizabeth and Joe Combs, completed 100 popsicle stick bunnies in about a week. On the back of each creation is a message of hope, and the family dropped them off last week to Shady Lawn Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation.

Grandma Lydia Warstler, who provided the supplies to the children, said in an email: “Thoughts of nursing home residents feeling lonely and forgotten during the ban on visitors turned into a kindness project …. It is hoped that the kids’ artwork and messages on the back of bunnies would put a smile on a resident’s face and let them know ‘someBUNNY’ is thinking of them!

“Kids can’t save lives during this pandemic but everyone can create encouragement in some way during these trying times,” Warstler continued in the email. “Many of Shady Lawn’s residents are members of the greatest generation and we don’t want them to feel like they are part of a forgotten generation.”

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