"Unity in Diversity" Our Commitment to Building a Stronger Community- Vahid Moradi, CJ Charles
Since opening our doors in 1988, we have been committed to strengthening our community through involvement, giving back and serving with integrity. To this end, we have donated over $100,000 to cancer research, community outreach and helping reduce homelessness. Most recently, we agreed to beautify, strengthen the connection & heal our community by dedicating a mural on our wall with the message: Unity in Diversity.
We hope this message of peace, acceptance and respect for all human beings live on and inspire us to be the best!
The mural, titled “Unity in Diversity” and featuring flowers, hearts and hands reaching for each other, spans the entire length of the western wall of CJ Charles Jewelers at 1135 Prospect St. We it hope it spreads a message of peace and unity through La Jolla Village and beyond.
“We want it to be a message that conveys peace, unity, oneness,” Vahid Moradi, said. “We’re all people. We need to do our part to let people know we’re with you. We want everybody to heal.”
Vahid Moradi said he has felt “emotional for a long, long time. I’m worried about everyone. You see people struggling.”
La Jolla resident and philanthropist Michelle Lerach came up with the idea for the mural after seeing shops boarded up this month as a precaution in light of two incidents of vandalism in The Village.
“The boarding up is pretty ugly and sad,” Lerach said. “I wondered what we can do to beautify it.” She had the idea to paint the boards with a mural and called Vahid Moradi, owner of CJ Charles Jewelers.
When Lerach approached him about a mural, he thought it was a perfect way to “find a common ground to communicate this message to The Village. It’s about all of us; blood runs through all our veins. We all want to be happy, respected, a life with dignity.”
“We want it to be a message that conveys peace, unity, oneness,” Moradi said. “We’re all people. We need to do our part to let people know we’re with you. We want everybody to heal.”
Jodi Rudick, executive director of the La Jolla Village Merchants Association, said: “There is nothing more beautiful than a message everyone can rally around. We are a welcoming community and we want to do better, and these are some great first steps.”
The mural has support from the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library and Murals of La Jolla, a nonprofit that has sponsored more than 30 murals in La Jolla over the past decade.
“While not associated with the new mural, we welcome such a timely and thoughtful public artwork in our community,” said Athenaeum communications director Lidia Rossner.
Ed Witt, chairman of Enhance La Jolla, a nonprofit organization dedicated to maintenance and improvement of The Village, said he saw the mural as he walked by and thought “it’s beautiful and the right message.”
It is with great honor, gratitude and humility that we get to serve our community and enhance the world we live in and share together.
In service & reverence,
Vahid Moradi
CJ Charles Jewelers