Chalk Your Walk Lifts Community Spirits

Photo credit: Katie McLennan, Echoes-Sentinel, March 23, 2020

Governments and communities across the country are grappling with the continuing spread of the coronavirus. With concerns about the health care system’s capacity, a growing number of states are ordering their residents to stay at home. CNN projects that 40% of the U.S. population will be officially urged to stay home this week, with more certainly to come.

While governments, communities, and families struggle with the implications of these orders, they are also finding ways to come together, encourage each other, and boost morale. According to Main Street America, hope and innovation is around every corner, as local businesses transition to online sales, neighbors arrange “porch happy hours,” families “adopt” area seniors, and organizations provide literature drops with COVID-19 information to residents in multiple languages.

Among these helpful endeavors was the nationwide “Chalk Your Walk” event, which took place the weekend of March 21. In countless towns and cities, residents used chalk to draw or write encouraging messages on driveways and sidewalks.

Tyler clients are among the communities that participated, in numbers too great to list them all. In Greene County, Indiana, for example, residents embraced the effort as a good way to get everyone outside and spread positivity. For neighbors who haven’t seen each other in days, it proved a valuable boost. “Are we close together?” asked one homeowner. “No, but we can wave and even say, ‘We miss you, and we’re all in this together.’”

In large jurisdictions such as Manhattan, chalked messages encouraged residents to “be kind,” “smile,” and “hold hands with your heart.” In Champaign, Illinois, Katie Snyder, Museum of the Grand Prairie education program specialist hopes the chalk will continue every Friday. “It’s been rewarding seeing the community come together … Saying things like ‘don’t give up,’ 'be brave,’ and beautiful little pictures that kids have drawn.” Part of the fun included a community teddy bear hunt.

Other Tyler client communities featured in the news include:

Photo credit: Larissa Reick, Echoes-Sentinel, March 23, 2020

Kudos to all of Tyler’s clients out there participating in this and other ways to keep spirits lifted and communities connected during this challenging time.