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Jennifer Riddle works with her dog Benny, an 8 year old black lab, as Benny paints inside Friendship Heart Gallery, 118 N Water St. in Lancater city Friday, July 22, 2022.

Jennifer Riddle works with her dog Benny, an 8 year old black lab, as Benny paints inside Friendship Heart Gallery, 118 N Water St. in Lancater city Friday, July 22, 2022.

THE ISSUE: It’s Friday, the day we take a few moments to highlight the good news in Lancaster County and the surrounding region. Some of these items are welcome developments on the economic front or for area neighborhoods. Others are local stories of achievement, perseverance, compassion and creativity that represent welcome points of light during the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic and with other stressful developments enveloping our nation and world. All of this uplifting news deserves a brighter spotlight.

We’ve lauded miniature horses the past two weeks in “Good things,” but this week we’ve gone to the dogs.

We absolutely loved the article about Benny (aka Bendov), an 8-year-old Labrador retriever in Ephrata who likes to paint.

As LNP | LancasterOnline’s Chloe Miller described, Benny “brushes the page with bold strokes of red after some encouragement from his assistant, seemingly letting the inspiration flow through him. Then his assistant cleans his brush and coats it in blue, which he uses to add splashes of color on the canvas. He does the same with yellow. The piece is complete.

“And he didn’t even use his paws.”

Speaking of which, let’s “paws” for a moment here, because there’s even more to this wonderful story.

As Miller explained, Jennifer Riddle, Benny’s owner, was able to adapt commands Benny learned during his training to be a service dog at the Long Island, New York, nonprofit Canine Companions.

For the past six years, Benny has been helping Riddle with her independence and to manage her anxiety and depression. Riddle “was born with a rare genetic disorder called Williams Syndrome, which causes mild to moderate developmental and cognitive disability,” Miller wrote.

Benny was well-trained for his responsibilities, a process that took nearly two years at the nonprofit.

“He has the same personality as I do, calming, relaxed, laid-back, sensitive,” Riddle said. “He’s my kind of dog.”

And that companionship has done wonders for her; Benny is a very good boy.

The painting came later. Riddle saw some videos online of animals painting and decided to give it a try with her beloved dog.

“It took a while for Benny to grasp the idea of painting,” Riddle told LNP | LancasterOnline. “We had to teach him step by step. How to get the brush, how to get the paint, and different things.”

Ultimately, it turned out that you can teach a good dog new tricks.

The public has gotten to discover how talented Benny is, too.

“In 2019, Jennifer and Benny attended the Lititz Rotary Craft Show, where Benny got the opportunity to show off his artistic skills for a crowd and even sell one of his paintings,” Miller reported.

Riddle and Benny are paying it forward. A portion of the profits from their artwork goes to Canine Companions and the Williams Syndrome Association.

That deserves a big round of ah-paws.

— A very cool program launched in Lancaster County this summer, as Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church staged its first Black History Summer Camp.

“This year’s pilot program, directed by historian and retired Millersville University professor Leroy Hopkins, had an average attendance of eight students at each session,” LNP | LancasterOnline reported.

A photo gallery from the camp shows a violin performance, students ages 10 to 17 doing genealogical research and fun times being had all around.

The purpose of the camp, Hopkins wrote in an email, was to give the students “a taste of local Black history and the difficulties of doing genealogical research.”

Organizers plan to have another camp next summer. For more information, go to bethelamelancaster.com.

— Meanwhile, another recent photo gallery by LNP | LancasterOnline correspondent Connor Hollinger shows some of the work accomplished by about 90 teenagers throughout Lancaster County as part of Works of Mercy’s community service projects.

On Aug. 3, “one group of teens worked on landscaping at St. Anne’s Retirement Community in West Hempfield Township, near Mountville, while another group washed wheelchairs and walkers at Providence Place Senior Living of Lancaster in Lancaster Township,” LNP | LancasterOnline reported. “Other projects this year include outdoor work at Schreiber Center for Pediatric Development, yard work at Water Street Mission and washing vans used by Meals on Wheels.”

We write it every year, because it’s always worth trumpeting: Today’s kids are awesome. We read the news of their great deeds in LNP | LancasterOnline nearly every day, and we’re consistently impressed.

Today’s young people are as aware of the world around them as any previous generation, and they are striving to make it a better place.

We should applaud all that they do — and let them know that it doesn’t go without notice.

— Finally, this was a lovely gesture: “The Red Rose Quilters Guild presented more than 30 quilts to a representative from Bethany Slavic Church Tuesday night to support the church’s effort aiding Ukrainian refugees,” LNP | LancasterOnline correspondent Jonathan Klein reported.

This was another of the many local acts of compassion and support we’ve seen for the war-torn families and people of Ukraine; we’ve mentioned a few of them in this space in the past months.

“The quilts featured blue and gold fabrics, referencing the colors of Ukraine’s flag, sewn into heart shapes,” Klein reported. “The pattern, ‘Hearts of Hope,’ was designed by scrap quilt enthusiast and blogger Bonnie Hunter of North Carolina.”

The Red Rose Quilters Guild hosts workshops and performs community service projects that include stitching comfort quilts for families in transitional living and crisis centers and for military veterans.

To learn more about the guild, go online to lanc.news/redrosequilters. 

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As LNP | LancasterOnline’s Amber Williams wrote in the Aug. 7 Sunday edition, the Lancaster …

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