‘They have a lot of common stories,’ veterans find community in Heartland art class

NORMAL ( 25News Now ) - Veterans are learning to express emotions through art with a new free program.

Heartland Community College is teaming up with a charity called CreatiVets to give military veterans the opportunity to express emotions through art. This is the first semester of a free art class for veterans.

Johanna Barnes is not a veteran, but she is in the Heartland Veterans Art Class to help her mother, Joann Barnes.

Joann served in the Air Force for seven years. She loved her time in the military, especially her two years stationed in Japan, but it also left her exposed to the harmful effects of Agent Orange.

Her daughter feels that the veteran art class is good physical therapy for Barnes because she uses different muscle groups. It’s good as group therapy, too.

“They have