BY KATHLEEN BOLUS
Alex Molfetas was delivering yard signs to support high school seniors who had their year cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic when a client asked him for a print to show support for essential health care workers.
The image, titled “The Forefront,” is an illustration of a nurse. Her mouth and nose are covered by a mask featuring the American flag or sometimes a map of the world.
Molfetas, owner of Center City Print in Scranton and Kingston, was inspired to sell posters and yard signs featuring the illustration to help essential workers facing urgent financial needs during the pandemic. The Scranton Area Foundation’s NEPA COVID-19 Response Fund will direct the donations. So far, the sale has raised more than $600 of its $3,000 goal.
Molfetas reached out to the print’s artist, Thomas Wimberly, to ask if he could sell the print for charity purposes.
Wimberly immediately called Alex back. They chatted for a half hour.
Molfetas is the first person to ask him to use the image as a fundraiser, Wimberly saiD.
“I thought it would be a really good chance to have the image do some actual good out there,” said Wimberly, the art director at Shepard Fairey’s Studio Number One in Los Angeles.
JAKE DANNA STEVENS / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Alex Molfetas, owner of Center City Print in Scranton and Kingston, is reprinting “The Forefront,” an illustration of a nurse with a mask featuring the American flag, on posters and yard signs. Proceeds will help the Scranton Area Foundation’s NEPA COVID-19 Response Fund to benefit health care workers.
The original print is available at no cost on amplifier.org and is the organization’s signature image. Amplifier works with artists to create images to help “amplify the voices of grassroots movements,” according to the website.
The nurse could be any one of the number of health care professionals on the forefront of the pandemic.
“I just kind of wanted to make some kind of unifying design that could bring attention to the people who were sacrificing a good bit,” he said.
Essential workers and first responders have no choice but to go to work, Molfetas said, adding Center City Print is a community-based business.
“They’re putting themselves at risk … who better to thank than them,” he said.
“The Forefront” is available to order online as a 13-by-19-inch poster for $3; an 18-by-24-inch poster for $8 or an 18-by-24-inch yard sign with a stake for $14. Center City Print will deliver the posters.
To purchase the print, visit centercityprint.com/healthcare-heroes/.
Contact the writer: kbolus@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100 x5114
