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Positive People a plus for church
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LENDING A HAND: Students of the Youth Building Mahoning County volunteered their time to help the Positive People Group at Oak Baptist Church. General cleaning and paiting were the order of the day at the church. PPG is an organization of positive-minded individuals.
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UPLIFTING WORK: Roy Thomas, co-founder of the Positive People Group, stands in the sanctuary of Oak Baptist Church, 320 Elk St., Youngstown, where tarps cover the altar area. The croup cleaned up and painted last weekend at the church, which had been damaged by vandals.
The Positive People Group lives up to its name for a church damaged by vandals.
YOUNGTOWN — It’s said an optimist sees a glass half full while a pessimist, half empty.
Venture a guess on how the Positive People Group views life.
This group believes a positive, upbeat and “let’s tackle this project” attitude can be contagious, if not more so, than a mood of doom and gloom.
Ron Nanosky and Roy Thomas are co-founders of the PPG.
“I believe a positive attitude creates positive actions,” Thomas said.
PPG is being true to Thomas’ words in its first project at Oak Baptist Church, 320 Elk St. Earlier this year, the church had been robbed by vandals, who damaged the sanctuary and tore into the walls for piping and affected the plumbing.
PPG members volunteered Friday and Saturday at Oak Baptist, where they painted and cleaned up the church. Pastor Sylvia Jennings spoke at a PPG meeting about the church, her vision and the vandalism. It’s her mission to revitalize the church and its people.
“It’s the right thing to do,” Thomas said about PPG’s effort at the church.
“We wanted to help to get the church back in its feet,” Nanosky said.
The two men plan to tackle other projects with members of the group who share the positive outlook.
Nanosky and Thomas met in the Leadership Mahoning Valley Class of 2008. The two hit it off and carried their friendship beyond the program.
“We would meet for fellowship,” Nanosky said. “Roy is just one of those people who energizes me.”
“I’ve had a positive sign on my fridge forever. I just love it,” Nanosky said. “I thought ... there must be others who are positive ... we should get people together.”
Nanosky lives in Boardman but grew up on Youngstown’s West Side, and Thomas lives in Youngstown.
They each sent out 50 e-mails. “We thought maybe 50 people would show up, but 110 did,” Nanosky said of the first meeting last April. “It just blew me away.”
The response also sent Nanosky and Thomas “back to the drawing board” about the group’s direction and function. Initially they saw the group as a social networking unit, where people could share their positive feelings and fellowship. The turnout prompted them to widen their scope of what positive people could do as a group.
The direction of PPG now is a civic organization, which is working on applying for 501(c)(3) nonprofit status.
“If this many positive people got together, we thought we could create positive change in the Mahoning Valley,” Nanosky said.
“We’re on a mission. I think we’re on the road to recovery here,” Thomas said. “I think our group can help uplift the spirit of the people in the Valley.
“We realize there are challenges,” Thomas said. “If we work together, we can turn things around with positive thinking.”
Thomas, a motivational speaker, said people often dwell on thought patterns such as, “Why did this happen to me? ... woe is me.” A positive thinker asks himself, “What can I do about this?”
Nanosky said PPG developed five areas of interest for those people in what they call the “core group.” The initial response was overwhelming, but now the core group of about 35 “gets it” about what has to be done. “They understand what is means to be positive,” Nanosky said.
The interest areas are family and community; business, ethics and education; arts and entertainment; health and wellness; and fitness. PPG participants will be able to be a part of different groups supporting efforts in those areas. “It’s not talking about something, but doing something about it,” Nanosky said.
Nanosky said PPG would support, as a group, a Relay for Life event or another effort for a good cause or work with a neighborhood group to clean up the area. PPG is open to ideas.
“There are many ideas to pick from,” Thomas said. “But we want to do one thing at a time.”