Lili Fox and project participants in front of the mural.

Christine Chun | Contributor

In an effort to “keep the community’s pride,” several children are currently working on a mural at Forest Hills Cooperative in Ann Arbor.

Located in the southeast area of Ann Arbor, Forest Hills is a moderate-income housing co-op. The mural, which is placed in its community garden, will be an image that portrays members of the Garden Committee with colorful flowers in the background.

Managing Agent of Forest Hills Claudia Myszke and Lili Fox were inspired to start this project to give a sense of pride to the community and teach children about the wrongness of vandalism.

“We solicited children to lessen the likelihood of the mural and the garden being vandalized. Once they realize how much time and effort they put into completing the mural, it’ll be harder for them or their friends to vandalize it,” Myszke said.

Once Myszke gathered a group of children, Fox started to work with them in brainstorming ideas for the mural, putting together a template and mapping out the design.

“Everybody came up with great ideas and contributed to designing the mural,” Fox said.

Myszke and Fox gathered six children aging from 12 to 17 to participate in the mural by distributing flyers to residents. The participants are Wageh Wadi, Somood Wadi, Salamah Wadi, Imran Imran, Charles Fox and Chris Lewis.

While money was a part of the reason why they decided to participate, the children said they enjoyed the outdoor activity and painting.

“It’s fun to work outside,” Charles Fox said. “I like doing the painting. I was interested in art in school, so I thought it would be fun to work on the mural,” Wageh Wadi added.

The mural is expected to be completed in the next two weeks.

Christine Chun is an intern for AnnArbor.com. Reach her by email at chunchr@umich.edu.