Designed To Inspire

Maria Mason, 8, checks out stencil designs at SOME Place for Kids in Southeast Washington. (By Melissa Cannarozzi For The Washington Post)

Independence Place, a subsidized housing program in Southeast Washington developed by the nonprofit organization So Others Might Eat, is home to 21 formerly homeless families, including 64 children. Last Saturday, members of the local chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers volunteered to help the children personalize parts of SOME Place for Kids, the program's after-school center, where children get help with homework and instruction in the arts, culture, character building and self-esteem skills.

The designers and children painted and used stencils to create designs of their own choosing for the walls. Carolyn Penn, director of Independence Place, said events like this "give [the children] the opportunity to be creative in a positive way."

Terri Sapienza