Rock painters have been hard at work in the Chinook area recently. Early this year Blaine County's Local Advisory Council for Mental Health (LARC) hosted several painting sessions with various groups at sites around the area ranging from school children to senior citizens. More recently, this year's Young Adult Volunteers (YAVs) hosted a rock painting session at Sweet Park in Chinook.

Rock painting and Mental Health Month, 2022

Deb Anderson, Business Supervisor and Lead Health Educator with Blaine County Public Health, and Haley Velk, the county's Emergency Manager, are members of LARC. Anderson explained the how the rock painting idea developed. She said, "With COVID issues the last couple of years we scaled back our Mental Health Month (May) activities. This year we were looking for something new. Valerie Beck, RN, is our Public Health nurse and suggested we do rock painting. Even though the celebration started in May as part of Mental Health Month, we kept doing rock painting sessions when requested by local groups."

The painting materials were provided by LARC. Employees at Public Health painted the rocks a solid color so painters could add immediately begin adding their own designs. Sessions were hosted by LARC at the Sweet Nursing Home, Sonshine Church School, 4H Clover Buds and at the Chinook Senior Center. According to LARC leaders there were "five, five-gallon buckets of rocks painted by locals." Those painted rocks will be placed around town "as a reminder of the importance of good mental health."

Haley Velk's family provided the rocks for painting for both the LARC project and the YAVs painting session. Haley explained, "My kids seemed a bit at loose ends the first day after school let out. When I got home that evening I told them to grab a bucket and we headed to a field at our "valley farm. That seemed to wear them down a bit and they got the idea to find their own entertainment."

Other painted rocks will go to a city park in Basin, MT

Chinook's YAVs this year joined a mission team several weeks ago that went to Basin, MT. Basin has a small Presbyterian 'house church' (church that meets in a local home) and the group of people from around western Montana went to help the folks in Basin. The town with less than 300 residents is located along Interstate 15 about halfway between Butte and Helena. Basin attracts visitors who come to the area to visit the "radon health mines to relax and treat arthritis, lupus, asthma and other various ailments." Many of the visitors are from Asia. The church in Basin was established by a Korean Presbyterian minister several years ago and still reaches out folks visiting the health mines.

Literally the day the mission team arrived there was an uptick in COVID cases in Basin and missioners were disbursed back to their homes because of health concerns. One of the projects the mission team had hoped to complete was to help locals clean up and beautify of one of the parks in town. The YAVs came up with the idea to let local kids/adults paint rocks locally and later deliver them to the park in Basin. About 30 rocks were painted and will be delivered later this summer. LARC provided rocks and painting supplies.

Steve Edwards

(l-r) Janet Gruszie, Videll Irons and Myrla McCoy take a short break from rock painting recently at the Chinook Senior Center. Part of a continued celebration of Mental Health Month, the rock painting was sponsored by Blaine County's Local Advisory Council for Mental Health (LARC).

So painting has served a number of purposes this summer in Chinook. And thanks to the Blaine County Advisory Council, the Public Health folks, the Young Adult Volunteers and the 'painters' who shared their artistic abilities. Look around, you might see some of those artworks recently created.