Alamo ALA and Our Community - 2003
ALA's Community Challenge Weekend is an annual volunteer community service oriented outing in which members may participate.
In 2003, our chapter painted a mural on the wall of the art room at the San Antonio Youth Center (“SAYC”). SAYC is a safe environment where inner city kids can come after school and on Saturdays and receive a healthy snack and help with their homework.
SAYC has a computer learning center; a music room (where children are given free music lessons and access to musical instruments); a library; an art room; a game room (equipped with TV, pool tables, air hockey and other games); and outdoor play equipment. The Center serves from 30 to 100 children each day after school and on Saturdays.
On Saturday, October 18, 2003, we painted Pablo Picasso’s
“Hands with Bouquet” on one wall of the room and a quote from
Picasso on the other wall (“Every child is an artist”). Above
this quote we painted SAYC’s logo which has a sunburst design behind
the outline of the Alamo and three children in the foreground.
We had twelve members attend this project so we had
plenty of hands to man the overhead projector, trace the pictures, mix our
own custom paint colors, paint the wall, and clean up the room. We had enough
ALA members present to complete our original project and do some additional
painting in the Center’s library. Scenes from “The Wizard of Oz”
had already been painted in the library and we added quotes from Dorothy
to two of the pictures. One TV cameraman/reporter responded to Tom Shaw’s
media blitz, filmed us at work, and our project made the evening news on
KABB-TV.
Chapter members who participated have provided very positive feedback. We were amazed at how quickly the work was done and what a difference it made in the room’s appearance. There was only one art major in the group, but we surprised ourselves with the quality of the results. We learned that twelve people could accomplish a lot in 3 hours. We are hopeful that our artwork will add to the children’s enjoyment of the Center and keep them coming back again and again, to a place where they receive instruction in good values and encouragement to succeed in life.
