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Roanoke nonprofit chalks up city with love

The organization used chalk art to spread positive messages

ROANOKE, Va. – A local nonprofit is back with its Chalk It Up initiative to help spread positivity and love in the Star City.

Picking their favorite color and getting right to work, people of all ages wrote messages of love on the walls and on the ground in chalk. In 2020, Humble Hustle created the event as an outlet for the community during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic and social justice movements.

Humble Hustle Executive Director Xavier Duckett was eager to bring it back.

“When you can intentionally write things, you have to feel it,” he said. “Even though the rain may wash it away, your heart was felt.”

The organization aims to empower youth, and Duckett said seeing generations come together put a smile on his face.

“Hopefully, someone rides by and somebody sees something that they resonate with, and it changes their heart,” he said.

Duckett passed out flyers and checked on several distribution sites, including the one in Grandin, the same place where remnants of positive messages from last year’s event still remain.

Seeing the chalk still there, Program Director Ashley Pannell said it means joy cannot be easily erased.

“It’s still up,” she said. “Oh my gosh, the artists out there must have used permanent chalk. I don’t know what they did, but the art is still there. So, that lets me know love continues. It doesn’t stop, and it doesn’t wash away.”

The organization encourages others to step outside of their home and keep the momentum going by displaying their masterpieces online using #ChalkItUp in their caption.


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Alexus joined 10 News in October 2020.