(L-R) Student artists Grace Coon and Molly West-Rosenthol show off their painted rain barrel in progress.

Northlands Job Corps Academy in Vermont has teamed up with the Willowell Foundation for a unique Global Youth Service Day event: an artistic rain barrel project.

First, the Willowell Foundation primes and delivers the barrels, then students across the region get a month to paint the barrels with a theme of their choosing. Once complete, Willowell collects the barrels, adds a clear-top coat and auctions them off to raise funds for educational and community activities that protect the environment. The project is funded by Disney Friends for Change.

At Northlands, students Molly West-Rosenthol and Grace Coon eagerly took on the challenge. “We both love art and enjoy painting, so this is perfect,” Molly said.

They decided on a Vermont landscape for their barrel, painting a Lake Champlain sunset. “We’ve been working on it for about a week,” Grace said. “There’s still more detail work that needs to be done.”

Rain barrels are used to collect and store rain water from a roof that would otherwise be lost. Each barrel can save homeowners about 1,300 gallons of water during the peak summer months, which not only helps protect the environment, but saves money and energy.

Both Grace and Molly plan to attend the auction. “It’s great to know that the art we create will help to do some good,” Molly said. “And it’s been fun!”

Ian McGaughey