Reprinted from an article in the Lewiston Morning Tribune

Reprinted from an article in the Lewiston Morning Tribune, Tuesday, January 1st, 2002

Artist's Drawing Touches Lives

Conceived and drawn
before Sept. 11, 'The
Rescue' came to offer
hope in wake of tragedy.

By Leah Andrews
of the Tribune

photo by Barry Kough

     Months before Sept.11, Cindy Lee Oleson of Lewiston, a watercolor artist and mixed media artist, began to envision a strong hand reaching down to another hand, reaching up for help.
     Three days before the terrorist attack, she finished drawing it.
     She named it “The Rescue.
     Then the world changed, planes flew into the twin towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington D.C., and Oleson’s drawing took on a new significance.
     “When it was done I knew it was important. I felt it.”
     But she had no idea that it would mean so much to so many people, or that it would raise nearly $5,000 for relief ministries at ground zero.
    On their way to a prayer service at Orchards Community Church after the attacks, the Olesons decided to take more than their Bibles. “My husband and I thought we should bring it in,” she says of her drawing.
     Although the charcoal drawing was not framed and it was not even supposed to be a finished piece, they brought it to church.
     “When I completed the sketch I had intended to go on and do a watercolor of it.”
     That is Oleson’s usual method. But the response to the charcoal drawing was so overwhelming, she decided not to do anything else.
     “Sometimes the most unexpected things turn out to be the most powerful,” says Oleson, 36.
     Oleson gave the piece to the church, where it hangs in the praise center foyer.
     A couple of days after bringing the drawing in, the Rev. Mark Brewster, senior pastor at the church, developed a plan.
   Brewster and others at the church watched a simulcast program called “America Prays” with different faith leaders across the country, and the story of a church at the heart of ground zero struck a chord.
     “We heard a pastor who was in New York City trying to minister and help,” Brewster says.
     “The church was going out on a limb racking up thousands of dollars on credit cards to put boots on firefighters.”
     Urban Life Ministries, part of the Glad Tidings Tabernacle, a 300-member Assemblies of God church in midtown Manhattan, responded to the atrocities of Sept. 11 with bandages, goggles, towels, boots and prayer.
     Brewster proposed selling autographed prints of Oleson’s drawing and sending the proceeds to Urban Life Ministries. Oleson agreed.
     Soon hundreds of 8-by-10 inch prints of Oleson’s drawing were selling for $20 to members of the church and others who heard about the drawing. The church also posted the drawing on its web page.
      According to Colleen Merrill, administrative assistant at Orchards Community Church, many people bought the prints to give them as Christmas presents.
     “People just wept when they saw it,” Merrill says. Oleson is amazed at how the piece has taken on so much meaning for so many people. “Maybe it’s because there are so many ways of being rescued.”
     Oleson posted comments on her Web site from people who have e-mailed her about how “The Rescue” touched them.
     The church will stop selling the prints and send the profits to Urban Life Ministries at the beginning of the new year, but Oleson’s original will still be at the church. Oleson is selling limited edition prints, which she says will be the first in a ministry series she is creating.
     When she decided to do a religious piece, Oleson doubted it would be profitable. And even though the drawing has been successful, it is not the money that impresses Oleson most. “More satisfying than any financial gain is that it is touching people, making people feel something, because that is what every artist wants.”