The Beloved Community

05/10/2026

Come by Mar’s MARvelous Memorial Gala all day today at 66 Chapin Street in Binghamton NY for community, card making, and celebrating the life of Dr. Mar Peter Raoul!

We’re here and we can’t wait to see you🧡

05/09/2026

We are excited to see you tomorrow starting at 12pm for Mar's MARvelous Memorial Gala - at 66 Chapin Street, Binghamton NY (the site of our Free Little Library)

The Beloved Community will honor her history of writing letters to the lonely and marginalized by hosting a card making station at the Gala. Let’s write letters, draw pictures, and spread good cheer to those incarceratedt, in nursing homes, in orphanages, and any neighbors in need 💌

All are welcome at her celebration of life!

We invite you to join us in celebrating the wonderful life of our Founder, our Dear Friend, our Mama: Dr. Mar Peter-Raoul.

A celebration of life - Mar's MARvelous Memorial Gala - will be held on Sunday May 10th at 12pm at 66 Chapin Street, Binghamton NY (the site of our Free Little Library).

Come by to honor the woman who dedicated her life to serving, educating, and inspiring others, as we remember her life by sharing our own stories and memories. There’ll be videos, pictures, items she collected on her travels, the books that shaped her, excerpts of her very own writings, and a great sense of community!

The Beloved Community will honor her history of writing letters to the lonely and marginalized by hosting a card making station at the Gala. Let’s write letters, draw pictures, and spread good cheer to those incarcerated, in nursing homes, in orphanages, and any neighbors in need 💌

All are welcome at her celebration of life!

The Beloved Community will continue Dr. Mar's legacy ✌️🧡

05/02/2026

Join us next Sunday!!🧡

We invite you to join us in celebrating the wonderful life of our Founder, our Dear Friend, our Mama: Dr. Mar Peter-Raoul.

A celebration of life - Mar's MARvelous Memorial Gala - will be held on Sunday May 10th at 12pm at 66 Chapin Street, Binghamton NY (the site of our Free Little Library).

Come by to honor the woman who dedicated her life to serving, educating, and inspiring others, as we remember her life by sharing our own stories and memories. There’ll be videos, pictures, items she collected on her travels, the books that shaped her, excerpts of her very own writings, and a great sense of community!

The Beloved Community will honor her history of writing letters to the lonely and marginalized by hosting a card making station at the Gala. Let’s write letters, draw pictures, and spread good cheer to those incarcerated, in nursing homes, in orphanages, and any neighbors in need 💌

All are welcome at her celebration of life!

The Beloved Community will continue Dr. Mar's legacy ✌️🧡

04/22/2026

We invite you to join us in celebrating the wonderful life of our Founder, our Dear Friend, our Mama: Dr. Mar Peter-Raoul.

A celebration of life - Mar's MARvelous Memorial Gala - will be held on Sunday May 10th at 12pm at 66 Chapin Street, Binghamton NY (the site of our Free Little Library).

Come by to honor the woman who dedicated her life to serving, educating, and inspiring others, as we remember her life by sharing our own stories and memories. There’ll be videos, pictures, items she collected on her travels, the books that shaped her, excerpts of her very own writings, and a great sense of community!

The Beloved Community will honor her history of writing letters to the lonely and marginalized by hosting a card making station at the Gala. Let’s write letters, draw pictures, and spread good cheer to those incarcerated, in nursing homes, in orphanages, and any neighbors in need 💌

All are welcome at her celebration of life!

The Beloved Community will continue Dr. Mar's legacy ✌️🧡

02/12/2026

☘️🍽️💚

We’re excited to partner with Good Neighbors NY for a FREE Community Meal! 🍝💚

Join us on Monday, March 16th from 4:30–6PM at:
📍 Vestal High School
205 Woodlawn Drive, Vestal, NY

There will be:
✨ Delicious food
✨ Door prizes
✨ Community connection
✨ Pasta, spiedies, salad & more

All are welcome bring your family and friends. This is what community looks like when we come together around a plate. 🍽️

Thank you to Good Neighbors and everyone helping make this possible!

01/25/2026

Today, we mourn the loss of our dear friend, Joe Lacourt - a dedicated community member, volunteer, and a friend to all. Joe has been a volunteer with TBC for many years participating in our trash clean up, serving & preparing food for our free community meals, and most recently sharing his smile as our greeter at our free community BBQ.

Joe will be remembered for his love of music - often heard playing his guitar at events, and for the joy & laughter he brought our community. We love you, Joe🧡

A mass of Christian burial will be held at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Kirkwood, NY on Tuesday, January 27th at 11 AM

View Joseph M. LaCourt's obituary, send flowers and sign the guestbook.

01/19/2026

Today, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we return to words that shaped not only a movement, but a legacy.

In the 1980s, Dr. Mar (Mama) Peter-Raoul embraced Dr. King’s vision of the Beloved Community. It was a vision grounded in resistance and nonviolence, but made meaningful through reconciliation. Those words stayed with her. They guided her work as a professor and mentor, and the way she showed up as a community member who believed deeply in justice and dignity for all.

Dr. Mar practiced resistance and nonviolence by speaking up when it was uncomfortable, by challenging injustice head-on, and by refusing to dehumanize, even when doing so required courage. The founding of The Beloved Community was shaped by Dr. King’s call for nonviolent action and moral courage, and by Dr. Mar’s conviction that reconciliation is not passive work. It is active, intentional, and necessary.

Today, as hate is amplified and people in power try to tell us who to fear, who to blame, and who to exclude, these teachings matter more than ever. We are called to resist hate. To practice nonviolence. To reconcile by befriending, embracing, and choosing love as a disciplined and deliberate act.

We lost Dr. Mar this past year; This was her dream. And as Dr. King reminded us, dreams do not end with the dreamer.

We carry her legacy forward.

12/10/2025

♻️

Help us find a space! ♻️🎨 We've rescued 4274.41lbs of materials in 18 months!!! And we have people asking to donate more all the time but we are out of space. Mostly because we don't have a place where we can be open to shoppers on a regular basis. We're looking for a shared space or a section in a coffee shop or other business where we can sell arts and craft supplies at thrift store prices. (We also happily donate to non-profits, just reach out!) We need to move more supplies to keep the flow of usable materials going. If you know of a room in a church or space we might share please let us know and help spread the word! Let's get Broome Creative ReUse open for regular business in 2026!

12/02/2025

‘Tis the season to give back🧡 Spread some neighborhood cheer & donate to our Holiday Giving Campaign today!

Donate $50+ or more and receive a Beloved Community hat. For more details, visit our GiveButter:

By Beloved Community

11/27/2025