Transforming an East Boston park

Elliott Haney works for City Year. He reports that when he and other volunteers went to clean up and repaint a small East Boston park, some bystanders cautioned them against erasing the large "M.A.D." somebody had spray painted on one wall in honor of a local guy murdered in 1984. They decided to incorporate his name into a mural. And it all paid off with one nearby resident's reaction:

... He walked into the park as I was sitting there, and his jaw just dropped. It was like in a comic book; it literally dropped and he just stood there, staring all around. He turned to me and said "This couldn't be more beautiful..." He started walking around just taking it all in, then he walked towards the court. He stopped suddenly, turned to me and started walking back. As he got closer, I could see tears on his face. The man was a childhood friend of Michael Anthony D'Avella. He was crying to me, a complete stranger, thanking me for making the M.A.D. memory live on so beautifully. He choked through numerous 'thank yous' but then he couldn't speak anymore… he shook my hand, and he walked out of the park, taken over by emotions and his memories that we helped to preserve. ...