MACON, Ga. — This week has been a violent one for Macon-Bibb County, with two shootings that left four dead and two others hurt.
The victims were all young, under the age of 25. One Macon group wants to make sure those deaths stop happening. Heart and Soul Workshops mentors school-aged kids through art.
"Being able to use art, to use shoe refabrication, and to use photography to discover their talents," said Randy Heart, a graffiti artist-turned-art-teacher.
The group is one of several Macon Violence Prevention programs to gain county funding this year. They use their art skills to serve the community.
"It was a mess!" said Grace Bailey, pointing at a wall across the street.
Just inside Macon's Fort Hawkins neighborhood, you'll come across that wall.
"Vines were dropped down. It was nasty. I had to pay to get the sidewalk cleaned up," Bailey said.
For eight years, she watched from her porch as the retaining wall deteriorated. That is, until one day.
"He said, 'I just want to put a mural on this wall,'" Bailey said.
'He' is one of the teachers at Heart and Soul Workshop: Randy Heart. He had a few helpers when he started on the mural. About 27 of them, to be exact. They're all his students, aged 6 to 12.
"We focus on a couple of pillars. We focus on pillars such as motivation, beautification and education," he said.
Through a few different workshop days, the students transformed this wall into their own masterpiece. Bailey and other neighbors took notice.
"Everybody in the community is stopping. Bringing them lunch. Bringing them food. So they kind of felt like, 'OK, I'm empowered,'" said Tray Shelley, who teaches shoe refurbishment.
As for the students, the lessons learned are priceless.
"It was great to paint the mural, like, just to see us just clean and clean and make process and do stuff to build a community is great," said Leland Shelley, Tray Shelley's son.
Dsto Moore teaches photography. He says teaching kids it's OK to be themselves helps them avoid getting into trouble, like joining a gang, or picking up a gun.
"They've got a sense of self love now that's way amazing, way more amazing," he said.
They also have a sense of duty. The mural's not quite finished yet.
"How much more do you think needs to get done there before it gets finished?" we asked Leland. "A lot," he said.
One day, it will be finished, and through it, these kids will learn yet another valuable lesson: "You can do like anything you want to do," Leland said.
The group runs on about $25,000 from the Community Foundation of Central Georgia's Macon Violence Prevention Program grants. They don't just paint. A couple months ago, they learned how to restore shoes, and donated them to Brookdale Resource Center. Next, they'll learn about photography.