Local News: Rainbows Spread Hope Around Shelbyville (03/27/20)

What not to like about a rainbow, especially when 1,300 residents of the community use colors to spread rays of hope throughout the city during a pandemic of viruses?

Bedford County appeared on the map Wednesday afternoon with the first confirmed case of coronavirus. So being quarantined at home is likely to become less of an option for local residents in the days to come.

Just in time, meet Shelbyville Rainbow Hunt organizer Keeley Graves, who started with a creative idea last weekend with rainbows.

Some locals may know Shelbyville’s mom because she works as a registration clerk at Shelbyville Central High. This week, while waiting for the schools to close, she and her recently formed Facebook group have rainbows posted all over the city.

Within days, from Stephens Lane to Tennova Healthcare, shades of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and purple (ROYGBIV for short) decorate everything from the doors of nursing homes to the capitals of churches.

The idea is not the source of me, explains Graves. I read somewhere that children in Italy were drawing rainbows and hiding them in their windows. It gave them a sort of treasure hunt because they were quarantined and unable to do anything else.

Later that day, she says her neighbor, Susan Pinkston, mentioned the same Italian article. Like spirits sharing something positive in the community.

We talked about launching a rainbow treasure hunt in our neighborhood. They were actually the first family to hide a photo in their window. I told him that I would post something on Facebook about it and maybe a few neighbors would play the game. I didn’t know it would explode all over the city and surrounding areas. I started the group on Sunday and we now have over 1,300 members, said Graves.

Graves said she and her children Ava, 15, a first-year student at SCHS, and Sylvie, a fifth-grader from Thomas Magnet, have free time, especially now that school should not resume before 24 April.

I gained a bit of insight from this. Basically, people are bored, said Graves. A project like drawing / painting / creating a rainbow from all kinds of materials gave them a project and maybe even a goal for this particular day. I’m a pretty tricky person, but some of the rainbows I see are elaborate and time consuming.

She said how much sincere people are thinking about the Shelbyville Rainbow Hunt, which is a private Facebook group but easily joined with permission.

Shelbyville’s mom thinks the project was positive because she saw how it helped people get rid of the fear of the coronavirus (COVID-19).

I never thought I would get this reaction! I was just hoping for some friends and some rainbows from the neighborhood! I am amazed, said Graves.

She said the photo and comment lists on her Facebook page titled Shelbyville Rainbow Hunt demonstrated that the project was good for times like these (tornadoes and viruses in a month).

I also see a lot of people referring to the rainbow as Gods Promise that everything will be fine. I also like this way of celebrating [senior living and assisted living] residents have created rainbows for their windows. Also some nurses from our hospital [Tennova Healthcare] have made rainbows for their units.

She enjoys seeing photos and Facebook posts, especially now that she hasn’t been out of the house much this week. The school system worker said that it was comforting to hear about people driving into town, with rainbows in local businesses.

Under normal circumstances, a rainbow project would not take off like this. Everyone is looking for a little happiness, said Graves