As many of you know already, the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program is near and dear to my heart. I became involved in the program pretty much from the day that I moved here to join the CBS 3 Eyewitness News team.

The movers had just dropped off my furniture at an apartment that I had rented in the Art Museum area. I ran out to find Trader Joe's and got lost. It was a dreary December day, and to be honest with you, when I tried to ask for directions on the street, I wasn't getting much help. People were just trying to get out of the bad weather and weren't in the mood to help a lost stranger. As the sleet pelted my face I remember thinking to myself: "Maybe you should have stayed in Ohio." But then as I rounded the corner of Arch and 20th Streets, I came across a mural that changed my mind. It was the image of a child reaching to the sky and was created by artist Josh Sarantitis. The vibrant colors on that dreary day stopped me in my tracks and then I noticed the title of the mural, "Reach High and You Will Go Far. I'm a very big believer in signs and at that particular moment in time I was at the right place at the right time. Someone was giving me a sign that everything in Philadelphia was going to be alright. The next week I called the Mural Arts Program, and I have been volunteering for them pretty much since. You'll often see me on the weekends giving a trolley tour of the murals in Center City.

I share this story with you because October is Mural Arts Month in Philadelphia. The Mural Arts Program began in 1984 as a component of the Philadelphia Anti-Graffiti Network. Now nearly 27 years later, the Mural Arts Program has produced over 3,000 murals which have become a cherished part of the civic landscape and a great source of inspiration to the millions of residents and visitors who encounter them each year.

Mural Arts is an innovative and successful public/private partnership that encompasses both a city agency and a nonprofit. Mural Arts' mural-making process also engages thousands of Philadelphia's at-risk children, youth, and adults who find their artistic voice, develop their self-confidence, and discover new ambitions while creating murals through numerous programs. Philadelphia has become synonymous with murals, and murals have never been more popular.

So this month, I encourage you to get involved in Mural Arts. Take one of the popular trolley or walking tours, volunteer to work with the kids in our after-school programs, or lend your artistic talents and help paint a mural. The Philadelphia Mural Arts Program is the largest public art program in the United States. With your help, if we reach high, it too will continue to go far.

For more information visit: www.muralarts.org