Ellen Rice Gallery event to benefit wounded U.S. soldiers this Saturday

The Ellen Rice Gallery is hosting the second of two Saturday events this weekend aimed at raising funds for a program that helps devastatingly disfigured U.S. soldiers who were injured in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Coastal Point • Submitted: Ellen Rice’s new print of a tree-lined ‘natural cathedral’ along Fred Hudson Road near Bethany Beach is among items that will benefit wounded U.S. soldiers through Operation Mend this Saturday, Aug. 21.From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. this Saturday, Aug. 21, $25 of from every print sale of Rice’s just-debuted painting of Bethany’s tree-lined Fred Hudson Road, “Come Along With Me....” and 10 percent of all gallery gift, jewelry and home décor sales will go to Operation Mend (operationmend.com).

The benefit is in addition to Rice’s ongoing fundraising efforts through her painting of a soldier home on leave walking down the beach with World War II watchtowers in the background, called “At Ease,” which can be seen at ellenrice.com. The print, to date, has raised more than $1,000. Prices start at $45.

Operation Mend, according its director, “restructures men and women” who have served in the military oversees. The averaged cost of helping one soldier is $500,000. The medical team involved is literally inventing new ways to help these men and women.

The Ellen Rice Gallery features the artwork of internationally collected Delaware shore artist Ellen Rice, a resident of Ocean View, and a wide variety of American-handmade creations by more than 150 American artisans, creating glass art, sculpture, handmade jewelry, wall sculptures and pottery, with an emphasis on the word “affordable.”

More information is available at the Ellen Rice Gallery, 103 Atlantic Avenue (Route 26), Ocean View, about 2 miles west of Bethany Beach, in the west end of the old Country Wicker building; by calling the gallery toll-free at 1-888-355-7423; or by visiting the artist’s Web site, at www.ellenrice.com.

Ellen Rice will be available from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday to personalize prints of her newest painting and any of her more than 90 paintings and drawings of the area in print. Refreshments will be served throughout the day. The public is invited.