At the 1-year mark of sheltering in place due to COVID-19, St. John’s opened up the sanctuary inviting participants to share their story over the past year. I had the youth in the church prep the boards and come up with questions to ask.

The questions are: 

• What have you gained?/What have you lost?
• What’s been the hardest?/What’s been a blessing?
• What do you miss doing?/What new thing did you start?
• What’s the first thing you look forward to?/What have you reset?

Building the storyboards

Supplies: Chalkboard paint, plywood, 1 x 4’s for the frame, sidewalk chalk, liquid white chalk, platform (pallets)

I used an overhead projector to stencil the questions onto the chalkboards. A good tip is to use a Magic Eraser to erase liquid chalk off the chalkboard. Using just water and a rag will leave a chalky residue.

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Over the weeks, people added their story and filled the chalkboard.

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People were also invited to participate in creating a collective “stained glass” art piece. The picture are California poppies that pop up everywhere no matter what the circumstances. Participants were simply asked to think of one word(s) from this past year and a color.

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