Teens spruce up home for disabled with mural

By PENNY RIORDAN, Staff Writer

By 9 a.m. Saturday, the residents of the home on Fifth Avenue had moved the dining room table and cleaned up their games for the special visit from a group of local students.

"I'm just excited. It's good to have visitors," Julie Seasholtz gushed, as she hovered around the teen volunteers who were transforming the home's game room into an African retreat with a 4-by-5-foot mural on the wall.

The home is run by Bello Machre, an organization that provides homes and support for individuals with developmental disabilities. The students, from South River High School and Anne Arundel Community College, lent their talents as part of Kids As Problem Solvers, a program run through the nonprofit Volunteer Center for Anne Arundel County.

For five hours Saturday, they crafted a mural that had exposed brick framing a window overlooking an African desert. In the window was traced a silhouette of a cat gazing out at the wilderness.

For the three women in the home, all art enthusiasts and animal lovers, the mural was a creative way to liven up the place where they play games and read books.

"We don't have to look at that blank wall any more," said Belinda Mooney, who kept a close eye on the artists' progress all morning.

For the students who designed and painted the mural, the opportunity was far more than a chance to showcase their artwork.

"It's a more lasting way to serve," said Laura Nixon, a 17-year-old from Davidsonville. "This mural is proof that we did it."

Teens involved in Kids As Problem Solvers meet once a month and discuss topics such as conflict resolution and self esteem. They are recruited for the program, and are required to do service work in the community.

After looking at projects such as environmental cleanups or other traditional volunteer activities, the teens who worked Saturday were surprised that creating a mural would be considered such a valuable contribution to a home.

"It's more fun," said Ali Williams, a 16-year-old from Mayo. "You get to paint instead of clean."

It may be difficult for the residents to express how much the artwork means to them, but there's no doubt they are excited, said Tracy Lynott, director of development for Bello Machre.

"If they have visitors in their house, the first thing they would do would be to show them the mural," Ms. Lynott said. "They are going to be proud that this happened in their house."

That pride was evident in the residents' curiosity with the young artists. The cat in the window was a nice touch to the design, as the house used to have a white cat named Sky as a pet, they said.

All of the women love to draw and often paint in the activity room where the mural is located. Ms. Seasholtz has taken lessons and talked briefly about trying to paint her own mural one day.

"It's kind of cool that this will stay here for a long time," Miss Nixon said.

Last modified: Thu, 16 Mar 2006 09:54:23 -0500

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