ou're Invited! Gala and Fundraiser at the Gilbert Stuart Museum

JOIN US AT THE MUSEUM!

                                     The
public is cordially invited to attend the August 9th Gala and
Fundraiser at The Gilbert Stuart Museum entitled, Paint the Town Red!  Attendees will be regaled by the
undiscovered jazz trio, Just Us,  bid on a summer afternoon sail on Narragansett Bay, a week in a
rustic cabin in Kennebunk and/or other enticing silent auction items;  buy 
tickets for the 50/50 raffle, a real thrill  for the winner; sip wine courtesy of Newport Vineyards, nibble on
succulent hors d’oeuvres, indulge your artistic taste at the eclectic art show
and sale in the Museum’s Meeting Room and enjoy the glorious grounds of the
Museum with your friends and acquaintances.

                        Funds
from the event will be used to paint the Birthplace and to expand and upgrade
its Welcome Center. One of its important goals is to provide handicapped access
to this building (currently, all visitors are invited to enter to sign up for
tours, to visit our art gallery and to watch a film about Gilbert Stuart but
those unable to manage the stairs must sit outside).  The restored Welcome Center will also feature a handicapped
restroom.   A video is planned for the
Welcome Center to show the features of the two Colonial buildings for those who
are unable to access them.  Currently,
there is no usable handicapped access and no handicapped rest room in the
Welcome Center. 

            Shirley
Bell is the Paint the Town Red! Honorary Chair. Shirley is Museum
President Dan Bell’s sister, and she is handicapped.  She was in an automobile accident when she was 16 and is confined
to a wheel chair.  According to her
brother, Dan, Shirley is a very independent person. After her accident, Shirley
reinvented herself as an advocate for the handicapped at Ladd School.  After Ladd School closed she began using her
artistic abilities to support herself, and over the years has developed a
successful business called Shirley Bell Designs.  Shirley has never been inside the Gilbert Stuart Museum’s Meeting
Room or Welcome Center, (the Grist Mill and Birthplace are not handicapped
accessible, nor will they be, at least until access can be designed that will
not compromise the integrity of these Colonial buildings), and because of the
Museum’s initiative to provide handicapped access to the building, she is looking
forward to entering and is loaning her artistic abilities to help raise funds
for that goal. Interested readers may visit Shirley’s website,
www.shirleybelldesigns.com.