Billboard erected to spread love throughout Columbus
Just like Jackie Deshannon sang in the 1960s pop hit, Dan Rosu thinks what the world needs now is love.
It’s why he helped bring a billboard emblazoned with the four-letter word in big, bold, white letters on a red background to Columbus.
“It’s trying to raise up somebody’s spirits with a billboard,” said Rosu, 39, of Olde Towne East.
The billboard went up across from Columbus State Community College at 155 Cleveland Ave. for everyone to see Tuesday afternoon, and Rosu hopes people take selfies with it. He launched a Gofundme campaign almost two weeks ago to raise money for the
billboard and had raised about $430 by the time it was installed.
The billboard will be up for at least a month, said Rosu, who owns a clothing company called State of Mine Apparel. And if he can raise more money, he hopes to share his message in other parts of the city.
“It’s cool to put up a billboard and not have any ulterior motives as far as trying to sell something,” he said, adding that the message is important in today’s divisive times when people are often arguing, or caught up worrying about money and other daily stressors. “Just to have a plain, positive message like that to show people what’s important.”
Rosu met the creator of the movement, Love on Every Billboard, in September when they were roommates at a meditation retreat in California. He took up the cause after seeing others from the retreat do the same.
Ohio is the seventh state to erect one of the billboards, devised by John Pogachar, of Spokane, Washington, since they began going up in November. There are 22 up across the country now, Pogachar said.
Pogachar, a 60-year-old life coach, said he came up with the idea over the summer while talking with other life coaches about the idea of love.
“The more I thought about it, the more I thought, ‘How can I put love out there?’” he said. “There was fear. Who does that? Who puts love on a billboard? I guess I do.”
Columbus State students walking past Tuesday expressed positive reactions to the sign, put up by Lamar Advertising Company at noon.
“It pops out; it’s red,” said Paige Wires, a 20-year-old student. “When you think of love, it makes you happy.”
Whether people first see the sign out of the corner of their eye or head-on, Rosu hopes that the billboard brightens their day and that their joy will spread to others.
“It’s all good intentions,” said Rosu, who added that he’ll likely pick up with his own money the remaining $170 that is needed to cover the $600 discounted cost of the first billboard. “I think once it goes up ... people will kind of gravitate toward it.”
Rosu set up a Gofundme page to raise money for more local billboards at www.gofundme.com/ love-on-every-billboardcolumbus-oh.