Signs of encouragement: Miami Valley residents boost hopes with heartfelt messages

“Everything Will be Okay,” fills a window of an apartment building on West Grand Avenue in Dayton. LISA POWELL / STAFF

“Everything Will be Okay,” fills a window of an apartment building on West Grand Avenue in Dayton. LISA POWELL / STAFF

Messages of hope and inspiration — from one neighbor to another — are boosting spirits across the Miami Valley during the coronavirus pandemic.

Homemade signs are posted in windows, scrawled across driveways and left for passersby to find on sidewalks.

A banner reading “Together We Will See It Through” hangs in the window of a home in Kettering.

A runner jogs past a positive message in the window of the beck + call boutique in Dayton's Oregon Historic District. LISA POWELL / STAFF

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“This too shall pass,” is written in colorful chalk on a Washington Twp. driveway.

And what may be most comforting, “Everything Will be Okay,” fills a window of an apartment building on West Grand Avenue in Dayton.

Emmy Fabich and Katie Norris have been leaving inspirational quotes on the porch of their home in Dayton’s McPherson Town Historic District for neighbors to find.

Their daily messages have included: “We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails,” from singer-songwriter Dolly Parton; “The greatest danger to our future is apathy,” from primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall; “Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end,” by John Lennon.

Katie Norris and Emmy Fabich have been leaving inspirational quotes on the porch of their home in Dayton’s McPherson Town Historic District for neighbors to find. LISA POWELL / STAFF

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Other quotes have come from Chinese proverbs, scientists and the movies they love.

“You’re stuck in your house, so how do you communicate with the outside world?” Fabich said. “Leaving messages lets people know you’re thinking of them and makes me feel like we’re not alone.”

Emmy Fabich and Katie Norris have been leaving inspirational quotes on the porch of their home in Dayton’s McPherson Town Historic District for neighbors to find. LISA POWELL / STAFF

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