“This is going to be the third of four suicide prevention murals,” Long said.
The latest mural will be located at Tuffy Brooks Sporting Goods, 101 S. Keowee St. in Dayton.
“The murals have messages of hope and will include a QR code where individuals can scan it and get connected to resources, support for basic needs, immediately on the spot,” Long said.
The first completed mural is located in Old North Dayton at 2232 North Main St. at corner of Main and Fairview. It started as a 36-foot blank purple wall that, with 60 volunteers and an artist with a vision, shared the message, “With you, the world is complete.”
“The message of hope that the suicide prevention committee brought to the Old North Dayton neighborhood will be a beacon of light that this community will enjoy for many years to come,” said Amy Hamilton, then co-chair of the Suicide Prevention Committee, in the prevention coalition’s 2022 annual report.
The prevention coalition recently completed the second mural on the side of With God’s Grace Free Store, located at 5505 N. Dixie Dr. Dayton. Culture Works provided $10,000 toward the project, which the prevention coalition matched.
“We are grateful to Culture Works for providing grant dollars that will allow us to paint four murals to provide hope and to help guide people to the mental health support they need,” Long said.
The second mural was painted by prevention coalition volunteers and HOPE Squad students from Northmont High School with the message “Where Flowers Bloom, So Does Hope.”
The prevention coalition was intentional in where they placed the murals, Long said, as the group utilized statistics on deaths by suicide to decide where murals may be needed in the community. This included locations with higher suicide rates.
Once a location is found and the design is created, volunteers get to work painting the mural.
“This mural particularly, the Montgomery County Prevention Coalition is partnering with Leadership Dayton,” Long said.
Leadership Dayton is a leadership development program through the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce. The program aims to identify, educate and motivate a network of community leaders and increase their capacity to serve the Dayton region, the chamber says.
The prevention coalition expects this latest mural will be completed by the end of June.
If people would like to volunteer for future mural projects, Long can be contacted at blong@mcadamhs.org.
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