It's wonderful to find art in the most unexpected places. A little bit of serendipity happened to me yesterday when I visited Franklinton, an historic community just west of downtown Columbus, Ohio.
I was there to take a tour of the Westside Boys & Girls Club, 115 S. Gift St. When I pulled up, I was delighted to be greeted by the sight of an enormous, vibrantly colored mural on the side of the building, which takes up almost an entire block.
The message imprinted on the mural is "Dream Together." The message fits perfectly with the mission of the Boys & Girls Club, which, as I found out during the tour, gives youth ages 6 to 18 a safe place to go after school, on weekends and all day during the summer.
The tour was enlightening, as staff described the work they do in helping young people realize their full potential. The Boys & Girls Club is not just a place to hang out and play ping-pong. The youth are encouraged to spend an hour after school doing their homework or reading, which earns them points to go on cool field trips. And staff track their progress in school with state-of-the-art data-mining tools, helping to ensure they graduate from high school and, hopefully, go on to college.
I remember seeing PSAs about Boys & Girls Clubs when I was a kid, but I honestly didn't know much about them and am not sure I had ever set foot in one before the tour yesterday. They are worthwhile places that deserve as much community support as possible.
For more information about the Westside Boys & Girls Club and other clubs in Columbus, visit www.bgccolumbus.org. For more info about Boys & Girls Clubs nationwide, visit www.bgca.org.
To watch a cool time-lapse video showing how a group called The Harmony Project created the mural at the West Side Boys & Girls Club, click this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrxXCyEgqPU.
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