PARIS, Ky. (LEX 18) — A Paris business owner is stepping up to help clean graffiti from businesses in town.
Chris Boone was born and raised in Paris and takes a lot of pride in the town. Over the last week and a half, he said he has noticed more graffiti on the walls of businesses in town.
"It's hard to see. We love our little town of Paris and everybody kind of knows everybody. We're not used to seeing stuff like that," he said.
His ministry, Boone Project, has jumped in.
"We believe in serving our community, just giving back to others, so we had volunteered to others to start removing the graffiti for free. Within a week, all of Main Street, six or seven buildings had been hit," Boone said.
Boone has also offered a $500 reward for information about who's doing the graffiti, but not to have them prosecuted.
"I didn't necessarily want to see these people go to jail. If I could get a chance to get them in a mentorship program to give them a little guidance, get them back on track," he said.
He knows what it's like to find yourself in trouble.
"I had 26 years of fighting addiction myself and I had a rough childhood and I struggled most of my life until I was 40 years old. Three and a half years ago, I found Christ and felt led to start the mentorship program. I started a faith-based sober-living house here in Paris and we just try to give back. We try to help others and give hope," Boone said.
Boone says even just a little hope can go a long way toward washing away problems like these.
"It could change their life. Most of these people, the reason a lot them are causing problems is they've had a tough childhood and they've lost all hope. They don't really see much of a future for their self. If we can give them a little bit of hope that anybody can change and anything's possible, then we want to do that," Boone said.
