What started as way for artist Victoria “V” Jennings to boost people’s spirits during the covid pandemic has turned into charitable fundraising.
The Westmoreland County native has painted murals for about a decade.
When the pandemic restrictions of March 2020 continued into the winter, Jennings put her artistic skills to work — brushing wintry scenes and intricate snowflakes on the windows of businesses throughout her Bloomfield neighborhood in Pittsburgh.
“I did start it during covid (lockdown) … whenever everyone was feeling so cooped up and cramped and just not well,” said Jennings, 30. “I really did it initially so that when people were walking down the street and people were trying to shop and going for their little masked walks, they would feel a little bit of holiday spirit.”
Passersby took notice, and Jennings decided to keep up the tradition.
“Honestly, it just makes me happy,” she said. “I get a lot of positive feedback from the community.”
Since 2022, Jennings has decorated storefronts throughout Pittsburgh and Westmoreland County in exchange for a donation to a charity — an initiative she dubbed “Snowflakes for All.”
Greensburg’s White Rabbit Cafe was among the 2024 participants, receiving a wintry display on its windows.
“It just all looked really, really good,” owner Tommy Medley said of Jennings’ designs, “so I thought ‘Let’s just give it a whirl.
“It all turned out really nice.”
The fundraising effort has generated nearly $800, about half of which came from painting business windows in Belle Vernon, Latrobe, Greensburg and Pittsburgh in 2024.
The 2024 donations went to True T — an Uptown Pittsburgh nonprofit supporting the city’s LGBTQ residents — and Sisters PGH, a Black and trans-led charity.
Jennings said she finds it important to support the LGBTQ community, particularly amid a shifting U.S. political climate.
President Donald Trump signed executive orders in January stating the U.S. government only recognizes two sexes, reversing the Biden administration’s LGBTQ rights directives. About a week later, Trump signed another order aimed at ending federal support for gender transitions for people under the age of 19.
A New York attorney general told hospitals Feb. 3 to continue offering gender-affirming care for people under age 19.
“I feel like a lot of my friends are trans, and they’re kind of worried about what’s going to happen,” Jennings said.
Jennings grew up in Greensburg and North Huntingdon, drawing as often as she could. When she was in fifth and sixth grade, her father — who operated a DJ business — would display her art in his karaoke books.
“I remember that making me feel special,” she said.
After taking a college-level art class in high school, Jennings earned art and business degrees from Westmoreland County Community College.
Jennings did fundraising management work for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh before launching a full-time art career painting interior and exterior murals throughout Westmoreland and Allegheny counties.
She planned to paint the storefront of Regent Square’s Urban Jungle plant shop this month and install murals at Chick-Fil-A restaurants in the region later in the spring.
“I feel really cool and really happy about it,” she said. “I want to paint exterior murals so it’s kind of like my legacy when I’m gone.”