Correspondent photo / John Patrick Gatta ... Michelle Hehr, director of fundraising and marketing for The HELMS Foundation, volunteers to get splattered with neon and glow-in-the-dark paint during the “From Color to Chaos: Canvases & Community” family-friendly portion of Splatterfest 2025, the HELMS Foundation fundraiser on Saturday at Penguin City Brewing Company in downtown Youngstown.

YOUNGSTOWN — Doubling up the entertainment while creating for a cause, The HELMS Foundation presented a family-friendly event in the afternoon then an adults-only one at night Saturday at Penguin City Brewing Company downtown.

“SPLATTERFEST 2025: Getting Messy for a Mission” raised money while giving generations the chance to let their inner child run free as they participated in a variety of art-based activities around Penguin City’s ballroom.

Explaining the reasoning behind two events, Terri DiGennaro, executive director of The HELMS Foundation, said, “Every fundraiser that we have had has been adults, and it has been in the evening. We work with a lot of kids, and we work in so many different areas, why not make it accessible to them as well? Why not have them be part of the community and come out with families and do things together, whether it’s with your friends or whether it’s with your siblings?”

She added, “You’re out there, you’re working together. You’re having fun, and it’s OK. Usually, you’re told, ‘Don’t throw that. Don’t splatter that. Don’t drip that.’ In there, it all goes. You can do all of it, and then you come out with a product that was created by your family or by your friends, together.”

Using nontoxic, nonstaining, kid-safe, washable paint, the “From Color to Chaos: Canvases & Community” portion brought kids and their parents around an array of interactive experiences including body hydro-marbling, Splatter Room, Glow Trailer and painting clay leaves for a community Gratitude Tree.

“Art After Dark: Cocktails & Canvases” gave the 21-and-over crowd a chance at those same displays while adding Blind Drawing, Glow Corn Hole, Fingerprint Mural and Bouquet Bloom Bar.

Also present were local food vendors, a nonstop DJ soundtrack, dozens of raffle baskets as well as artists and therapists associated with HELMS.

Stephanie Wilson of Canfield attended with her husband, Danny, and two sons, Hendrix, 3 and Grady, 1. They worked together to make splatter art, which found their youngest getting more paint in his hair than on the canvas. After easily removing it, they moved on to another area and burst balloons.

“It is a great cause and a fun, family event,” Stephanie said, adding, “Art is very important.”

While the Wilsons wore disposable full body coveralls that were provided to keep themselves clean, others enjoyed the full splatter experience.

Among the adults who took the opportunity to act like children were Grace Mangapora and Rich Hofus of Canfield.

With neon pink paint on her face and neck she said, “We got to go into a tent and splattered paints all over a canvas and all over each other. I just thought it’d be fun and a fun couple activity to do together, a bonding activity, and we get a little artwork to put up in a future apartment.”

Hofus agreed. Sporting neon paint on his face and beard, he said, “I thought it’d be a cool activity for us to do together, just get out here and do something collaborative and creative.”

While discussing Saturday’s event, Poland native Deana Laska of Akron explained the origins of the HELMS Foundation, which was started in memory of her brother, Ryan Giambattista, who did multiple forms of art that included works in public spaces. Following his death in 2015, DiGennaro started the foundation to bring art therapy services and programs throughout the Mahoning Valley.

“It’s been 10 years since we’ve been doing this kind of stuff. It’s grown really big,” Laska said, adding, “It is beautiful when something good can come out of a tragedy.”

While SPLATTERFEST 2025 aimed to allow nonjudgmental creativity to occur and a good time to be had by all, DiGennaro said she understands that as liberating as the event can be, raising funds to continue to bring art therapy programs to the Youngstown-Warren area remains most important overall. She said because of the current economic climate, the nonprofit’s funds are down nearly a third of its normal level.

“We have a waiting list for services,” she said. “We work in so many different places to make our services available.”

DiGennaro brought up how art therapy gets through to her husband who has dementia wherein he can take a mound of clay and make it into a perfect square.

“We want people to understand that we do not teach art. You don’t have to be an artist to receive services. You don’t have to have that sense of wanting to do that. It’s about the process and the mediums that are introduced in that therapeutic setting.

“It taps into a specific part of your brain and stimulates that part of the brain. So much trauma has been piled on, and it takes that away, and it’s nonthreatening, and it doesn’t have to be verbal. This is also a way to reach out to those individuals and bring out its very powerful form of treatment.”