Sylvie McGowan was caught completely by surprise by friends, family, and new admirers when she was named The 2015 Hearts of Hope Ambassador of Hope last month.

A Newtown native who now lives in Danbury with her husband, Mrs McGowan received the surprise on November 18. The honor goes to a person who is able to offer hope to others while working through their own challenges. The award was presented during the monthly Hearts of Hope painting party, by Hearts of Hope (HOH) Founder Judy Pedersen.

“It’s as simple as someone who selflessly helps others, continuously,” Ms Pedersen said this week. “That’s kind of Sylvie’s story.

“She reached out even in the face of tragedy, and she reached out to hundreds.”

The Hearts of Hope-Newtown chapter hosts painting parties during most months, with the public invited to spend a few hours on a Wednesday evening painting small palm-sized hearts in the hall at Newtown United Methodist Church.

HOH is a volunteer-driven nationwide community service program. Small hearts are painted with positive messages or illustrations depicting hope, and then distributed to those who are facing challenges. The program was developed in January 2002 in response to 9/11. As of December 5, more than 62,750 Hearts of Hope have been created and delivered.

Newtown residents were introduced to Hearts of Hope in February 2013, when dozens were hung around town in time for discovery the morning of Valentine’s Day. Mrs McGowan was introduced to the group by a friend.

Sylvie (Sirois) McGowan heard about the program just over a year ago, in November 2014. James McGowan, the 7-year old son of Sylvie and her husband, Patrick, had died unexpectedly the previous month.

“Sue Shaw, who was the president of Hearts of Hope-Newtown [at that time] reached out to me and told me they needed painted hearts,” said Mrs McGowan. “She told me, ‘We’d love you to join us.’”

“I went last year and I was hooked,” she said.

Hearts of Hope provides the clay hearts, and even the paint and brushes, for the creation of Hearts of Hope. Organizers tell people that no artistic ability is needed for people of all ages to join and enjoy the monthly painting parties. Mrs McGowan agrees.

“I don’t have one artistic bone in my body,” she said. “I love to paint, but if you go to the [HOH] Facebook pages, you can see my first three hearts.

“They’re horrific,” she said, laughing, “but I had fun. I love doing this.”

“Since James has passed, painting has really relaxed me, and kind of put me in a Zen. You forget about the other world,” she said. In addition to the monthly painting parties in Sandy Hook, Mrs McGowan has painted birdhouses to share with people. Mrs Shaw was also nice enough, said Mrs McGowan, “to let me take hearts and paint them at home.”

“It’s very relaxing, and it was always a time that I didn’t have to think about anything, while going through this great grief of losing my 7-year old,” she said.

A Quest Of Gratitude

In October, Mrs McGowan spent time delivering Hearts of Hope to everyone who had tried to help her and her husband in the moments, then immediate aftermath, of the accident that took their son’s life.

Current HOH-Newtown President Kristen Mattera said Mrs McGowan ordered 100 Hearts of Hope, and then hosted painting parties with friends and family members.

“She then found everyone, right down to the dispatcher who took her 911 call, and every first responder, and thanked them with a Heart of Hope,” said Mrs Mattera. “It’s amazing that someone would have such strong convictions to pay it forward and show gratitude.”

Mrs McGowan said it was “very important, regardless of the outcome, to thank every one of those people who was involved in every aspect of trying to save James. Fire, police, Danbury Hospital management, the people at Yale, the doctors in the ER…everyone who touched our lives, who were part of James’s travels, when he was alive.”

On November 18, Mrs McGowan headed to Sandy Hook, and NUMC, where her regular table was waiting for her. Hearts of Hope selects a different theme to paint with each month, or an organization that hearts will be sent to. For November, hearts were being painted for the staff of Danbury Hospital. It was Mrs McGowan’s suggestion, in fact, that November be dedicated to the staff of the nearby hospital.

“That Wednesday night was very important to me,” said Mrs McGowan, who works in the ICU at the local hospital. “I’ve been a nursing assistant there for 20 years. It’s a very dear place to me.”

She was looking forward to going through the hospital, she said, “me and my entourage, to deliver Hearts of Hope to this wonderful staff who, even though we all love what we do, know that it’s a very stressful job. It will be very nice for these nurses, who work so hard, who are dedicated to every patient, to be shown a little sign of appreciation to tell them that everything they do every day is really noticed.”

Kristen Mattera said Mrs McGowan is not only a regular attendee of the painting parties, she also brings friends with her.

“Sometimes she’s joined by 20 or more people,” Ms Mattera said November 20.

Speaking with The Newtown Bee this week, Judy Pedersen called Mrs McGowan and her friends a “posse.”

“We open the doors and they come rolling in, sometimes 20 and 30 of them,” she said. “It’s wonderful.”

Mrs McGowan said she always sits in the same place, “so they started setting the table up for us,” she said, laughing again. “It’s the Sylvie & Lisa Table,” she said, mentioning a friend who also regularly attends the painting parties.

A Complete Surprise

“It was a normal third Wednesday so we went in, and started painting,” she said of November 18. Mrs McGowan didn’t think twice about her husband’s decision to join her that night, or that some other friends also decided to show up.

Mrs Mattera spoke that evening, as did Judy Pedersen, introducing the annual honor that was about to be presented. As part of her speech, Ms Pedersen pointed out that Hearts of Hope annually recognizes “one unique individual who embodies what it means to have hope.

“An Ambassador of Hope,” she explained, “is someone who, despite the most challenging and unrelenting challenges, reaches deeply within themselves to offer hope to others.”

Meanwhile, Mrs McGowan kept quietly painting and listening.

“As Judy was talking, people started looking at me, but I didn’t think anything of it,” she said.

“And then all of a sudden Judy started talking about Winnie-the-Pooh. Winnie-the-Pooh was very iconic to James,” she said, her voice breaking. “I sang Winnie-the-Pooh songs when I was pregnant with him.”

Mrs Mattera had been watching Mrs McGowan while Ms Pedersen was speaking that night.

“She was absolutely shocked,” the chapter president said of the moment Mrs McGowan realized what was happening. “It was wonderful. The room was packed with people of all ages, her sister, her friends, all there for her. And she didn’t know it right away.”

Mrs McGowan is very thankful, she said, to Hearts of Hope. The group, she said, “let me use this organization to mourn. They let me use the organization to say Thank You to all of these people.”

After she was surprised with the honor last month, Mrs McGowan said, she talked a little about her son, “and how important it was to be kind, and to always say Thank You.”

While six Ambassadors of Hope awards were announced last year, Ms McGowan was the sole honoree for 2015.

“Sylvie was a clear choice,” said Ms Mattera. “She is an amazing person, always wanting to do for others. She was so persistent in tracking down people to give the hearts out. She just wanted to make sure every person was thanked. It was so important to her.”

Ms Pedersen agreed, saying on December 5 that “among our board members, when they heard Sylvie’s story, is was an easy decision.”

This story has been updated to reflect the correct spelling of Judy Pedersen's name.