Photo by Eric Keith / St. Joseph News-Press / Purchase this photo

St. Joseph Christian School students joined up with St. Jo Youth Allience to paint the town red Wednesday afternoon. The unsightly former Shooters pool hall was the object of their attentions in an effort to spruce things up downtown.

With all the talk about spending money on Downtown revitalization, it’s worth remembering what a group of volunteers can do with a few cans of paint.

AmeriCorps, the St. Joseph Youth Alliance and students from St. Joseph Christian School descended upon the Shooters building on Wednesday to spruce up an eyesore in the middle of the city’s multimillion-dollar Felix Street Entertainment District.

Danny Maggart, principal at St. Joseph Christian, said the project was part of the school’s fall service day. In addition to the Shooters building, students volunteered at United Cerebral Palsy, America’s Second Harvest of Greater St. Joseph food bank and the God’s Mountain Camp near Rushville, Mo.

“This was a perfect fit for us because we can get a lot of kids out here and do a lot of work in a short amount of time,” Mr. Maggart said.

Ethan Olson, a junior at St. Joseph Christian, was one of 39 students from the school who applied a coat of red paint to the bare plywood that covered windows on the building’s ground floor.

“I think it’ll be cool when we walk away from here, and then when we drive through Downtown someday we’ll look at this and say, ‘Hey, we painted that,’ and it will bring back a lot of memories,” he said.

Downtown drivers were quick to notice the group’s work. One driver — which turned out to be Downtown advocate Larry Buck — honked his horn and stopped to offer words of encouragement. Steve Holdenried of AmeriCorps tried to lure Mr. Buck out of his vehicle to help, then went back to his constant back-and-forth run on the sidewalk coordinating the student volunteers. He stopped often to grab a roller and give direction, often finishing the job before the instructions.

“Use lots of paint,” Mr. Holdenried told the volunteers. “This is the best stuff money can buy. It primes and paints at the same time so we don’t have to come back again.”

The St. Joseph Downtown Association bought the paint for the project, Neighborhood Pride provided painting supplies while AmeriCorps, the St. Joseph Youth Alliance and St. Joseph Christian teamed up to provide the volunteers.

Clinton Thomas can be reached at clintonthomas@npgco.com.