Hearts of Hope-Newtown Chapter will host its next painting party tomorrow night, in the undercroft of Newtown United Methodist Church.

As with recent months, there will be a theme for those who paint ceramic hearts. This time the group will be painting hearts to include in bags of food that will be distributed through FAITH Food Pantry.

All ages are welcome to participate in the monthly Hearts of Hope painting parties. All materials are provided.

The November 20 party will begin at 6:30 pm and continue until 9 (please note the November 15, 2013 issue of The Newtown Bee had an incorrect start time in the Community Calendar listings).

Admission is free, but donations are accepted and used to cover the cost of supplies and other expenses.

Registration is requested and can be done online. The methodist church is at 92 Church Hill Road; entry to the undercroft/church hall is through the lower rear parking lot.

In addition to painting hearts for the food pantry, organizers ask that attendees consider bringing a non-perishable food item for the pantry.

A non-ecumenical food pantry, FAITH —Food Assistance Immediate Temporary Help — continues to operate from the basement of St John’s Episcopal Church in Sandy Hook, but its mission and its operations are very much the same today as they were when the pantry was founded in the spring of 1983: to help any Newtown resident who needs food assistance, and to do so without question or judgment.

In June, food pantry organizers reported they were providing food for nearly 5,000 meals per week. Volunteers plan for three meals per day per family member.

Hearts of Hope first arrived in Newtown in February, with hundreds arriving in town in time for Valentine’s Day. Volunteers have since paid the gesture forward, hosting painting parties in Newtown that have sent the painted ceramic hearts to Boston, Oklahoma and Arizona, Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, Yale Children’s Hospital, military personnel, and others.

Newtown’s chapter is the first that was formed by the Cooperstown, N.Y.-based Hearts Of Hope organization. Since the inception of Hearts of Hope in 2005, nearly 40,000 keepsake hearts (39,848 as of November 4, according to HOH’s website) have been made and delivered to individuals nationwide.

Greeting cards that accompany each heart allows each painter to send a note or message with their heart, and coding on those cards allow the recipient to send a Thank You note through the Hearts of Hope website.