(Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP) Manny Ramirez, founder of Positive Street Art, addresses the 50 or so Rotary Club of Nashua West members and guests at Tuesday's dedication of PSA's newest mural project, commissioned by the club and hosted by Southern New Hampshire Health, which owns the building at 268 Main St., on the corner of Bowers Street.

NASHUA – It was back in September and early October that people who frequently walk or drive past the Southern New Hampshire Health building at 268 Main St. began noticing something happening to the plain brick facade that faces south.

What most every casual observer didn’t know at the time, however, was that the occasional activity taking place on that south wall would turn out to be the initial stages of a several-month project that would culminate in last week’s unveiling of a colorful, vibrant mural, created by Nashua-based Positive Street Art, that pays tribute to the many contributions that former, current and future members of the Rotary Club of Nashua West made to the local and regional community.

“We started the process in September, early October last year … we knew it wouldn’t be finished by the end of the year, so I put the background up just so people would know something’s coming,” Manuel “Phelany” Ramirez, co-founder of Positive Street Art and the lead artist for the project, said last week.

Ramirez also made sure to affix a Rotary Club of Nashua West logo to the background, giving observers a further hint as to what the mural’s theme would be.

In the meantime, the club, which is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its founding this year, formed a mural committee, headed by Positive Street Art president and co-founder Cecilia Ulibarri and Betsy Houde, executive director of Community Partnerships at Southern New Hampshire Health.

(Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP) Several of the participants in last week's dedication ceremony for the new mural commissioned by the Rotary Club of Nashua West, created by Positive Street Art and hosted by Southern New Hampshire Health, stand in front of the newly unveiled mural. From left are Rotary Club director Jan Valuk, Cecilia Ulibarri and Manny Ramirez of Positive Street Art; Betsy Houde, SNHH director of community partnerships; and Ken Grabeau and Helen Honorow, longtime Rotary West members.

The committee commissioned Positive Street Art, whose artists have created numerous murals and other public art mainly in the city’s downtown, to create the mural.

Southern New Hampshire Health, the parent company of Southern New Hampshire Medical Center, signed on as the host of the project, and identified the 268 Main St. building as the ideal location for the mural.

The arrival of winter gave the so-called “stakeholders” plenty of time to toss around ideas as to the mural’s content and how best to incorporate the various elements they wanted to be represented in the mural.

An observer taking a close look at different sections of the mural may be able to identify likenesses of people they recognize, “doing the hard work that Rotary does for the community,” Ramirez said.

The images “may seem small, but it’s huge for the people … these little events amount to something much bigger for the community,” he added, referring to the images that depict Rotarians serving the community under their motto, “service above self.”

(Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP) Some of the dozens of people who turned out for Tuesday's dedication of Positive Street Art's newest mural project listen to PSA co-founder and preseident Cecilia Ulibarri describe the elements of the mural, which is on a building across the street from them. The mural was commissioned by the Rotary Club of Nashua West and created under the direction of lead artist Manny Ramirez, also a PSA co-founder, who is at far left.

“I feel everyone does their part. That’s what Rotary is all about,” Ramirez said.

It took the artists roughly 200 hours, over the course of 6-8 weeks, to complete the mural. Ramirez was quick to praise the band of volunteers who stepped up to help. Among them were Rotarians Janet Valuk, Carolyn Oguda, and Carol and Bob Powis, along with photographer/videographer Christopher Boncoddo and Positive Street Art’s newest artist, Christian Ramirez.

The next step is installing lighting fixtures, according to Houde, from Southern New Hampshire Health.

She said the committee needed to wait until the mural was completed to know where to locate and direct the light fixtures.

“We couldn’t be more pleased with how well it came out,” Houde said.

Roughly 50-60 people turned out for last week’s mural unveiling and dedication, grabbing shade from the hot sun under a small stand of trees across Bowers Street from the mural.

Among the speakers was Kenneth Grabeau, a longtime Rotarian who shared some local Rotary history, including Rotarians’ involvement in Rotary International’s Global Polio Eradication Initiative, a signature Rotary cause that was launched in the Philippines more than 40 years ago.

Ulibarri, also the current president of Rotary Club of Nashua West, explained each of the “6 pillars of focus” by which Rotarians abide in their endeavors:

• Peace and Conflict Prevention

• Disease Prevention and Treatment

• Water and Sanitation

• Maternal and Child Health

• Basic Education and Literacy

• Economics and Community Development.

Newsletter