Former Harrington Detox client gives back with masterful mural
Detox: Safe harbor in stormy seas
Paul Dill poses with his artwork.
Over the last several months, Paul Dill gone from being a patient at our Withdrawal Management Center in Harrington and a successful participant of its Intensive Outpatient Program to becoming a peer support specialist at the clinic.
A talented artist, the 37-year-old Dill also has shared his special gift with Connections – adorning one of the walls at the Harrington clinic with a phenomenal mural.
Dill’s floor-to-ceiling creation, made with acrylic paint on a 20-foot-wide canvas, features a lighthouse whose beams shine across stormy seas – an apt metaphor for the Harrington clinic.
“Connections was such a big part of my recovery,’’ Dill said. “The people here were really great to me and I wanted to do some service,’’ Dill said. “They gave me my life. The least I can do is give them a picture.”
About Connections
Connections Community Support Programs, Inc. provides a comprehensive array of health care, housing, and employment opportunities that help individuals and families to achieve their own goals and enhance our communities.
Founded in 1985 and incorporated in 1991 as a subsidiary of Ingleside Homes, Connections’ original mission was to help older adults with lifelong histories of institutionalization to move into the community. Our mission expanded in 1988 to include homeless services and addiction treatment. In 1992 we divested from Ingleside and became a separate 501c3 corporation. Today, Connections is one of Delaware’s largest nonprofit organizations collaborating with government, community, corporate and other philanthropic partners to maximize services for our state’s most vulnerable citizens.
Freedom Mural Honors Veterans
In July 2016, about 100 people attended the dedication of the Veterans Freedom Mural on the north wall of Marcella’s House, our residence for formerly homeless veterans at Ninth and Washington streets in Wilmington.The project was a partnership between Connections, the Wilmington Renaissance’s Creative District and other West Center City Wilmington stakeholders. Special thanks to Philadelphia-based muralist and public artist Eric Okdeh for making it happen!
Click here to see photos and a time-lapse video of the work in progress – 750 images taken by photographer Bob Craig over a one-week period.