HELPING THE HOMELESS BY MAKING A MURAL

Carolyn Nelson is literally weaving her experience of personal redemption into a public mural.

And it all started with a chance encounter outside our Services at Station House SRO program on North Broad Street in Philadelphia, where she has lived for six years.

“I saw a lady painting a mural on a wall near Station House,” Carolyn recalls. “I asked her what she was doing, and she introduced herself.”

The lady turned out to be Kathryn Pannepacker, a textile/visual artist working with the Mural Arts Program of the City of Philadelphia to create the program’s first large-scale textile installation. The piece is being created as part of the Finding Home mural project, a collaboration between Mural Arts and the city’s Department of Behavioral Health.

One of the goals, is to offer hope to homeless people, many of whom struggle with addiction and/or other mental health issues. Carolyn has been in recovery for nearly nine years.

“I told Kathryn, ‘I wish I could do something like that mural,’” Carolyn says. “Kathryn said, ‘I’m sure you can.’ She taught me about weaving and gave me the basics.’”

That’s why Carolyn can often be found sitting in her motorized wheelchair at Café Bethesda, a drop-in center at Eighth and Arch streets in the city’s Chinatown section. The café is one of several sites where volunteers are working on the mural; one workshop  was held October 26 at Station House.

About 10 residents participated, according to Melissa Moody, social services director for the Services at Station House program. “Carolyn is very articulate about what’s on her mind. She’s definitely been through quite a lot to get where she is.”

At Café Bethesda, Carolyn and other volunteers, many of them homeless, write words, thoughts, and phrases (or make drawings)  on strips of fabric, which are being woven together into panels and then painted. The panels ultimately will be incorporated into the mural.

“I’m having fun, but I also like what this project is advocating,” says Carolyn, who’s 44 and originally from Jacksonville, Florida. “This is basically to educate people about homelessness. A lot of people stereotype people who are homeless – they think they’re bums, or just lazy.

“But I have a college education. At one time I was a productive member of society. I got into a problem with drugs and my life just went downhill. It happens to other people when they lose their jobs and are living paycheck to paycheck.

“I think this is therapeutic, because you get to tell your story on the strip. I talk about love. I definitely advocate prayer. I write ‘Station House.’ ‘Philadelphia.’ And I write ‘healing.’ I write healing because what happened to me was, my spirit was broken as a result of drug use. And now it’s healing.”