Edition No. 80
Arts and Culture
Sue Majewski shares her love of The War Memorial in a handmade stained-glass mosaic for an art competition.
Community and Family
The Family Center offers free programs and resources from local experts aimed at building strong families.
A local woman has taken her love of The War Memorial to a new level with art
Sue Majewski, of St. Clair Shores, depicted The War Memorial in a handmade stained-glass mosaic for an art competition crafted by the Grosse Pointe News in 2021. The piece, titled “Grosse Pointe War Memorial,” is 3 feet wide and 4 feet tall. After exhibiting it in The Scarab Club earlier this year, it was accepted into the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center’s 2022 Fine Arts Competition. The competition opened June 17 and Majewski’s piece will be on display through Aug. 18.
It took her over 200 hours to create the mosaic piece.
“Community is the biggest word,” she commented in response to what TWM means to her. “My sister was married here, I’ve attended weddings, baby showers, everything over the years. It’s home to me.”
Majewski’s experience with TWM goes beyond simply attending events over the years. Majewski was part of a Grosse Pointe Youth Council in her early teen years while a student at Grosse Pointe South High School, the council oversaw the Battle of the Bands in the Fries Auditorium at TWM.
In addition to the mosaic being on display, Majewski has created a line of greeting cards with the mosaic on the front cover.
For more details about Majewski’s piece in the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center’s 2022 Fine Arts Competition, visit the link below.
The Family Center is now reaching more families than ever before
For Jennifer Bingaman, the most enjoyable aspect of being part of The Family Center is daily seeing some kind of difference made in the community.
Bingaman is the executive director of The Family Center of Grosse Pointe and Harper Woods, a nonprofit community organization that calls The War Memorial home.
The Family Center, established in 2000, offers free programs and resources from local experts on a wide range of topics aimed at building strong families and helping parents raise children who will become competent, caring, and responsible community members. It was founded by registered nurse and social worker Diane Strickler on the premise that knowledgeable and skilled parents foster capable, healthy, and responsible young people.
The Center, which operates from an office in the media wing of TWM, provides resources and preventative education to empower families to successfully navigate life’s social, emotional, and physical challenges. It offers a variety of free programs including family fun events, mindful meditation and movement, drug and alcohol abuse prevention, suicide prevention, and mental health and family dynamics.
Bingaman said The Center’s services have expanded exponentially over the years to now including in-person and virtual programming.
“We used to do all in-person programming, pivoted like everyone else during the pandemic to virtual and found we are getting so many more people looking at our virtual content than would ever show up to a program,” she noted. “We’re reaching many more people now.”
Earlier this year, The Center was the recipient of two grants totaling $75,000. The grants are for mental health support and substance abuse prevention in schools.
The Center’s signature fundraising event, Hollyfest, is planned for Nov. 17 at The Fred M. Alger Center for Arts, Culture, and Humanities.
Inspired Thoughts is a collection of highly curated content that embraces the spirit and purpose of The War Memorial: arts and culture, community enrichment, leadership, and patriotism.
Derived from the notion that learning from others is the key to success, Inspired Thoughts is meant to shine a light on those making a difference in the world around them. This collection features artists, poets, writers, architects, and every thought leader in-between. Inspired Thoughts is the strongest reflection of what The War Memorial stands for, and what we aim to be.
The content featured on Inspired Thoughts is curated by War Memorial leadership — we also look forward to featuring special guest curators in the near future. If you are interested in providing content for Inspired Thoughts, please email our Communications team at dmurphy@warmemorial.org.