ALL are welcome! We walk and serve quarterly. Visit www.wewalktogethercharlotte.org for updates. Just days after the Charleston church shootings, we found ourselves on a morning walk, troubled by the tragedy, but also profoundly inspired by mercy shown by the slain congregants’ families. To be so filled with grace was such a blessing. So what were we doing to make a positive difference? How could
we – two middle aged moms who struggled with our own issues -- encourage peace and unity in our community?”
Could a walking group that trekked throughout Charlotte, talking openly about issues and encouraging compassion, bring healing? To learn more, we attended Mecklenburg Ministries’ talks on race and fleshed out our idea. With a goal of walking 100 miles all around Charlotte, we would walk in apple green T-shirts so neighbors could recognize us as peaceful presence on their streets. We would anchor the group – WE WALK TOGETHER -- with MeckMin’s community partners, so walks started and ended at partner synagogues, churches, Buddhist viharas, and Muslim mosques. Jesus said that the greatest commandment is “to love the Lord your God … and love your neighbor as yourself.” We hoped our journey would help us do this. We walked regularly 1 to 3 times a week, 3 to 5 miles at a time, from mid-July to November. By the time we logged 100 miles, we had walked 29 times and visited 41 different houses of worship. More than 70 people had walked at least once with us, and we averaged 8 to 12 walkers a trip. The most beautiful part of this journey, however, was not statistics but what evolved along the way. Walkers –students, bankers, housekeepers, artists -- assumed different roles –encourager, spiritual leader, story teller, time keeper, pace setter. One walker stepped up to provide inspirations, including a question and conversation topic for each walk. Another walker made sure that we revisited those questions at our turnaround point. Yet another walker began picking up trash along a littered stretch. Others jumped in to help. From then on, we brought trash bags each time. We cleaned together. Danny Trapp, former executive director at Mecklenburg Ministries, and Tom Hanchett, the longtime Historian for the Levine Museum of the New South, added tremendous richness to our walks with historical nuggets and colorful anecdotes. We never expected a big turnout, but our cup overflowed, and we never walked alone. On each walk, we learned and experienced something new. We had never been inside a Charlotte mosque. Now we have. We never knew that that there is a labyrinth on the grounds of Sardis Baptist Church or that Temple Israel has a conservative following and Temple Beth El’s is a reformed one. Or that an amazing rose garden blooms near St. John’s Baptist Church. Now we do. We did not know about the African American community called “Brooklyn’’ that existed where the Mecklenburg Aquatic Center now stands and that St. Paul’s Baptist Church was its anchor. As often happens with marginalized communities, Brooklyn was razed in Charlotte’s 1950’s urban renewal and St. Paul’s relocated to Villa Heights. We have walked and talked with neighbors who experienced that. For our final walk, we collected shoes for Urban Ministries so we could “walk together” with the homeless. And at our 100th mile, we celebrated in Freedom Park with new and old friends and realized we couldn’t just stop. Over the past five years, we have walked more than 250 miles, engaged some 350 citizens, served more than 50 nonprofits, and picked up almost 500 bags of roadside trash. In 2021, we will continue exploring what COMMUNITY means by focusing on four key civic issues—HOUSING, EDUCATION, HEALTH, and THE ENVIRONMENT. We will now host one walk and one service opportunity EACH QUARTER, focusing on those four issues, where newcomers, stakeholders, and experts can join to make each activity more meaningful. Each of us – all of us -- now has a community of friends that did not exist a few years ago. We take one step at a time in our effort to sow compassion and healing. Thanks to those shining examples at Mother Emanuel in Charleston, we can now see a stronger, richer community here in Charlotte moving forward. We invite all to walk or serve with us any time. All are welcome! For more information, email: [email protected]
