The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
SERVING UP SUPPORT
Dinner will benefit Valor Home Mural
Anyone who wants to support Lorain’s newest public art project, can dine to help.
The committee working on the new mural “Valor” at Valor Home Lorain County will host a fundraising dinner from 5 to 10 p.m. April 21.
The dinner takes place at German’s Villa, 3330 Liberty Ave. in Vermilion. The cost is $20 for the spaghetti dinner and Music on a Mission band will provide entertainment.
For information, call John Sekletar at 440-3206818 or Rosa and Joe Gee at 440-949-4883. The fundraiser is needed because money for the mural will not come out of the Valor Home budget, Rosa Gee has said.
Painting has commenced at the Valor Home, 221 W. 21st St. in Lorain. The facility opened in 2014 to offer transitional housing and assistance programs for homeless male veterans.
The exterior western wall will be decorated with a new mural featuring the figure “Valor,” pictured with a sword, lion and the maxim: “In valor there is hope.”
It is the first Lorain painting honoring veterans by artists Mike Sekletar and Brian Goodwin, the painters who created the Veterans Mural in
downtown Amherst. Those works have received national attention and serve as year-round tributes to World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War veterans.
John Sekletar, a Navy veteran of Vietnam and
the father of Mike Sekletar, has helped coordinate the Lorain project.
“We have been moved by the overwhelming support by the city,” he said.
“I believe we have touched upon a wonderful thing: a mural that will tell a great story and provide The Valor Home with the recognition it deserves.”