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Community connects with uplifting messages on paper hearts | Get Uplifted

Since Project Hope began, Petra Bignami says there are now over 1,000 hearts on display.

BROOKLINE, Mass. — The coronavirus pandemic has been tough on all of us. That's why Petra Bignami in Brookline, Massachusetts started a project last fall to uplift her three kids and her community. 

It's called Project Hope. She wanted to focus on how to remain positive. The family set up a tin can filled with markers and hearts outside their home. They encouraged people to write a message on the heart. 

Petra's son thought it would never take off. Boy, was he wrong?!

Each day they get really great messages from neighbors and people walking by. 

The hearts are then laminated and can survive rain and snow outdoors.

"We really wanted to feel connected. We were feeling disconnected from our community, and this made us feel like we were part of a bigger group. It's really just helped people, I think, get through the darkness of the pandemic," Petra explained. 

Project hope started in September of last year, and by the Bignami family's last count, there are now over 1,000 hearts on display. The number keeps growing. 

If you have something you'd like to share, email us at GetUplifted@wusa9.com or contact Allison Seymour on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Be sure to subscribe to the Get Up DC newsletter, where we'll be sharing an uplifting story every morning as well.

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