{"id":6132,"date":"2025-10-17T18:05:24","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T18:05:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/6132\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T18:05:24","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T18:05:24","slug":"habitat-for-humanity-shows-off-new-mural-adorning-reading-property","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/6132\/","title":{"rendered":"Habitat for Humanity shows off new mural adorning Reading property"},"content":{"rendered":"

Standing on the northeast corner of Douglass and Moss streets late Wednesday morning, a brightly-colored mural stretching up the wall behind him, Timothy Daley issued a challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cMake me work three times more,\u201d the Habitat for Humanity of Berks County executive director said to the small crowd gathered on the opposite corner.<\/p>\n

The brief ceremony he was speaking at was to introduce the new piece of public artwork that now adorns a wall of a three-story rowhome at 924 Douglass St., a property Habitat is renovating.<\/p>\n

\"AA home at Douglass and Moss streets is being renovated by Habitat for Humanity of Berks County with the help of Reading-Muhlenberg Career and Technology Center students. (DAVID MEKEEL – READING EAGLE)<\/p>\n

But it was also about a lot more.<\/p>\n

It was about what can happen when people work together for a common purpose, he said. It was about marrying housing with education and art.<\/p>\n

And it was about changing neighborhoods for the better.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not an example of what can happen, it\u2019s an example of what should happen,\u201d Daley said.<\/p>\n

The project at Douglass and Moss streets, which began in 2023, is a special one for Habitat.<\/p>\n

Through a special partnership, students from Reading-Muhlenberg Career and Technology Center<\/a> have been handling much of the renovation of the home.<\/p>\n

The students have remodeled the kitchen and bathroom, upgraded to more energy-efficient windows, replaced the boiler and undertaken several other tasks.<\/p>\n

\"AA new mural has been added to a home at Douglass and Moss streets that is being renovated by Habitat for Humanity. (DAVID MEKEEL \u2013 READING EAGLE)<\/p>\n

Students from Reading\u2019s Central and Northeast middle schools also lent a hand in installing the mural, which is on a wall that faces Moss Street.<\/p>\n

The artwork was designed by local artist Lenna Hill, with students from the middle schools handling some of the early painting. Students from Albright College pitched in with some of the more advanced brushwork.<\/p>\n

Michael Miller, artist-in-residence of the Total Experience Learning Community Art Studio, oversaw the project.<\/p>\n

Speaking Wednesday, he said the project was most certainly a group effort, estimating at least 100 people had a hand in bringing it to life. And, he said, each of those people should feel ownership in it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all of our wall,\u201d he said, adding that he knew from the beginning the effort could be a bright spot in the city.<\/p>\n

Dr. Khalid Mumin, Reading School District superintendent, expressed pride over his students\u2019 roles in the mural and renovation of the home. Glancing across Douglass Street to the district\u2019s under-construction Innovation Academy<\/a>, he imagined walking out of the school\u2019s doors and seeing a world of possibility.<\/p>\n

\"Dr.Dr. Khalid Mumin, Reading School District superintendent, speaks at a ceremony to unveil a new mural on a wall at a home at Douglass and Moss streets that Habitat for Humanity of Berks County is renovating. Reading students have assisted in the renovation and creation of the mural. (DAVID MEKEEL – READING EAGLE)<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ll see real, affordable housing, built with the help of students,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019ll see art, done with the help of students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mumin said he and his staff talk about providing kids with hope and opportunity, and the Habitat project is a prime example of both. And, he said, hopefully its only the first of many collaborations between the district the nonprofit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is one of many,\u201d he said. \u201cLet\u2019s get it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The renovation is nearing completion. Habitat officials said they expect to hand the keys of home over to its new owners \u2014 who have been earning sweet equity by helping with the renovation \u2014 in early 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Standing on the northeast corner of Douglass and Moss streets late Wednesday morning, a brightly-colored mural stretching up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6133,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,857,182,139,28,128,130,129,706],"class_list":{"0":"post-6132","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-reading","8":"tag-berks-county","9":"tag-essential-reading","10":"tag-local-news","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-pennsylvania","13":"tag-reading-city","14":"tag-reading-city-headlines","15":"tag-reading-city-news","16":"tag-top-stories-reg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}