WCHBNewsDetroit – WCHB 1200

Santiago Esparza / The Detroit News
Detroit – Nele Cassells held up the palms of her hands, showing off bright orange paint. Then the 5-year-old Detroiter gleefully stamped her hands on large wooden panels, leaving behind handprints.

"Look at my hands," Nele said smiling. "I’m painting."

Nele was among a group of students and parents from Loving ElementarySchool who volunteered to paint 62 panels that were then used to board up five vacant homes near the east-side school.

Detroit businesses and community groups donated supplies and pizza for thevolunteers.
It was a busy scene on Oakland Street as the panels were laid out and the kids ran from board to board painting, repainting and splattering designs on them. Oakland served as a gathering point for the efforts.

Halima Cassells, Nele’s mother, said school officials from Loving have talked with the city for a year about tearing down the vacant houses. Cassells, 28, said the parents felt the houses needed to be boarded up until they are torn down. The houses are on a list of structures to be demolished, Cassells said.

"They really need to be torn down," she said. "The kids have to walk past these open buildings. Until they can be torn down, they need to be secured."

Edward Lewis, a 42-year-old Detroiter, volunteered on Saturday because he has four grandchildren who are students at Loving.

"This is a good thing they are doing," he said while painting a panel. "We all want the kids to be safe."

Antraus Taylor does not attend Loving, but volunteered with relatives and buddies anyway.
"I like to paint, and I like helping people," the 10-year-old Detroiter said. "It makes me feel good."