Chalk talk: spreading optimism throughout Bethel Park

The world might not be all peace, love and understanding, but Sydney Litzenburger does her best to remind people of the bright side of life.
Visit Bethel Park’s William Penn Elementary School, and when the weather cooperates, you’re likely to see her work along the front sidewalk: chalk drawings of symbols such as smiley faces and peace signs, accompanied by words of inspiration and encouragement.
“When you walked up there, did it make you feel good?” she’ll ask guests. “That’s why I do it.”
Litzenburger, a 20-year special education paraprofessional at William Penn and lifelong Bethel Park resident, also chalks her feel-good messages on other surfaces around the community. Locations can include, say, Memorial Elementary School, near her home, or the parking lots of gas stations where she’s fueling up her tank.

Harry Funk / The Almanac
That’s what Sydney Litzenburger wants you to do when you visit William Penn Elementary School.
She recalled one early morning during which she noticed a pair of police officers parked in one of the lots. Before starting to inscribe, she made sure to ask them:
“So, if I were to chalk here, would I get in trouble?”
Their reply: “What are you going to write?”
When she explained her optimistic modus operandi, they told her to go right ahead, especially considering that unlike the work of spray paint-wielding graffiti artists, it takes only a mild shower to make chalk but a memory.
Litzenburger started chalking three years ago as encouragement for her granddaughter, Mathilde, when started preschool at Ruthfred Lutheran Church on South Park Road.
“I used to take gallons of water and scrub it, so I could get a new message. That’s a little laborious,” she said. “So I just wait for it to rain, and then when it rains or dries up, I start another message.”
She always is prepared.
“You can never have enough sidewalk chalk,” she explained. “I have a big bag of it in my car. I have it in my basement. I have it in the office. I pretty much have chalk everywhere.”
And she puts it to good use.
“I just think that in a world where you need more kindness, more positivity, if it can make just one person feel happy about their day, that’s worth it,” she said.
As far as other artistic pursuitsshe tends toward the kitchen:
“I’m a good pie baker. I make an awesome pie crust on the top. They’re very pretty sometimes.”