Little Art Bank

We lost an amazing person in June of 2020. The Little Art Bank's founder, Sara "Sam" Little passed away leaving a void in the hearts of everyone who had the honor of knowing her. She was a teacher, artist, mentor, inspiration, muse, kind heart and amazing human being and the world will never be the same without her in it. In 2018, Sam teamed up with the team at Art of Recycle to  open the Hanover LAB. She shared the same desire to give back to the community and inspire others to give back as well. Art of Recycle is focused on keeping with the mission that we created over a decade ago and we will continue with the operation of Sam’s program.

So we pose the question... 

How did knowing Sam impact you? 

What did you learn from her? 

How can you make someone's day/week/life better, like she did? 

How can you continue her legacy to make the world better? 

Some of our LAB volunteers shared what they learned from Sam:

-Talk to EVERYONE, ask "Whats your story?" and then listen to what the person is really saying.

 -Make meaningful connections with people, and then try to help them if you can. 

-Make friends, open yourself up knowing that it may end in heartbreak-but you never know until you try.

 - You made us all believe that we could be great. You believed in us.  

-You can learn something from everyone (even if you don't necessarily like WHAT you learn, its still important to learn)

 -Art can change the world.

 -Your love reached thousands of us who were taught to see the world anew, with wonder, under your guidance. Lovingly, you challenged us to navigate that wonder through experimenting with and exploring artistic expression. 

-Expect the best of people, and understand we are all flawed but many people try really hard to be the best version of themselves that they can. 

-Through our friendship I've learned a lot about Life, Love and Art, and how the LAB will continue enriching the lives of others 

-Tell people how much you love them, you never know what it will mean to them.

-Sam told everyone how much they meant to her, and it is something many of us need to do more of. 

-She made every person she touched feel special. 

-They say a teacher will never know how they affect eternity.  For all the gifts she shared, her spirit lives on with every life she touched.

 -Thank you for seeing what I needed and giving me a chance to contribute again, 

for validating my thoughts and opinions, for nudging me out of my comfort zone but mostly for being a really good friend.

It‘s now the responsibility of the rest of us to pick up where she left off, and we have some very big shoes to fill. 

We are all better people from knowing and loving her.