VICTORVILLE – In an evening ceremony Friday, Desert Valley Charitable Foundation unveiled a marble sculpture expressing its desire to help.
Resting on the lawn in front of the foundation’s Health Education Resource Center on Bear Valley Road, the 17-ton sculpture depicts two hands clasping a third hand. The center is located across the parking lot from Desert Valley Hospital.
The foundation’s board of directors decided to have the statue crafted about six months ago, said Gloria Lifshutz, board president. Artist Martin Varo was commissioned to do the sculpture for an undisclosed amount of money.
Varo hand –picked the marble from a quarry in Italy and had it shipped to Irvine, where he worked on it for at lest three months, said Etan Boritzer, an owner of the BGH Gallery in Santa Monica.
“We wanted to do something real special – to show that we would be the helping hands for community,” Lifschutz said.
The goal of the foundation is to educate the community about health and nutrition, said Linda Y. Rogers, director of operations. The resource center, built and maintained by the foundation, holds a medical library where people can learn more about illnesses, medication and diet.
“In five years, I want people to be so in tune with their bodies that they have the information to ask questions of their doctors,” Rogers said. “Many people are so intimated by doctors. This will help them to know what to ask.”
The library, open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, has been used by more than 2,000 people since it was built a year ago.