Chalk board lets Markham residents share hopeful message

Yorkregion.com
March 12, 2016
By Amanda Persico

Messages of hope - some comical, some political and some polite - are scrawled across a chalkboard in the heart of Unionville.

The Giving Tree Unionville, a local youth group, created a Board of Hope for residents and visitors to Unionville to share messages of hope for the future.

“Asking about the future makes you think,” said group founder and Unionville resident Shanta Sundarason.

The board, located near Millennium Square off Fred Varley Drive, is an interactive art project where passersby can share their personal aspirations in a public space.

The board, on display during the summer months, was unveiled over the weekend where local residents and Markham councillors lined up to fill in the ‘My hope for the future is’ blank.

And hope for the future is ... Donald Trump isn’t elected. Kayne (West) to be president in 2020. Smile all the time. More Harry Potter. Everyone can afford a house. Clean air and water.

“We wanted people to go away with a memory that they left some inspiration behind for the community,” Sundarason said.

The interactive public art display is modelled after a project created by artist Candy Chang in 2011 in New Orleans.

The original project, Before I Die, encouraged those who walk past an abandoned house to think about their dreams for the future.

Since then, more than 500 hope board art installations have popped up around the world in more than 70 countries and in more than 35 languages.

Markham’s hope board is one of a few in Canada.

Along with writing messages of hope, the local youth group also established the Award of Hope, to be given out annually to two local teens who help bring hope to the community.

This year, Victoria Jones of Bill Crothers Secondary School for her work with 360Kids and Joshua Mohajer of St. Augustine Catholic High School for his anti-bullying efforts were the first recipients.

The Giving Tree youth will also monitor the board to help ensure no vandalism or nasty comments are written or left up.

As the board gets more and more full, the group will take pictures and document the messages.

The board will be erased and a new set of hopes for the future can be created.

The pictures of the board will then be turned into a book.