Graton Rancheria donates $3,000 to help restore defaced Santa Rosa mural

Outcry over graffiti vandalism that marred a mural in Santa Rosa’s South Park neighborhood has spurred a fast community response to donate money to help a nonprofit restore the artwork, which features local community leaders and civil rights figures.

On Friday, the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria announced it would match the $3,000 donation offered by the John Jordan Foundation, bringing the amount raised in just two days to restore the mural to $6,000.

Tribal chairman Greg Sarris, who is pictured in the mural, said that he wanted the community, including those still-unidentified individuals who committed the vandalism, to feel that a positive message would prevail over a hateful one.

“It’s a mural that paints a picture of hope and good role models for the young people in the neighborhood,” said Sarris, who lived in the South Park neighborhood for part of his childhood. “They need to see this. Images are so important.”

The 8-by-29-foot mural is on an outside wall of a Head Start preschool building, and it overlooks Martin Luther King Jr. Park on Hendley Street. Vince Harper, with the nonprofit Community Action Partnership that runs the Head Start program, said that the donations put them in a position to begin restoring the wall as soon as possible. He said they will try to raise additional funds to be sure they can fully restore the artwork and take preventive measures to protect it.

Harper said he wants the mural to be fully restored before September, when his organization hosts an annual neighborhood festival in the park.

You can reach Staff Writer Julie Johnson at 521-5220 or julie.johnson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @jjpressdem.