Philadelphia congregation hosts conference to stop violence
Jun. 22, 2006 News media contact: Linda Green * (615) 7425470* Nashville {383}
NOTE: Photographs are available at http://umns.umc.org.
A UMNS Feature By Milse Furtado*
Tired of increasing violence in its neighborhood, a Philadelphia church decided to do something to stop the brutality and negativity.
"There are so many shootings, stabbings and beatings around our doors that we are not even choked up anymore," said the Rev. Laurie Ann Rookard, pastor of Camphor Memorial United Methodist Church in Philadelphia.
In response to the overwhelming increase of violent incidents in the community, the Camphor church, in conjunction with the Camphor Council for Community Development, created strategies to address violence in the neighborhood. The council will host a June 24 conference on violence and has hosted a breakfast and a silent march to increase awareness about the situation in the community.
Rookard said Camphor's main goals include implementing a plan to reduce violence within the Haddington and larger West Philadelphia communities, to educate the community on how to treat and prevent violence, to implement a town watch in the community, to beautify vacant lots, and to attract funds for youth programs.
The daylong conference on violence at Camphor Church begins with an 8 a.m. breakfast. It will bring together community leaders and experts from diverse professions to discuss the different kinds of violent acts that plague the city - and the Haddington community in particular - including crime and conflicts between groups and ethnicities.
The conference also will examine the treatment and prevention approaches that are and are not working, she said. Awards to "outstanding" anti-violence workers in the community will be presented and the participants will remember the victims of crime who died on the community's streets.
"This is not something that many churches are doing," Rookard said. "We are proud of our outreach programs."
Last April, the church hosted a prayer breakfast to launch a series of events against violence.
More than 40 people attended the by-invitation-only breakfast, including representatives of diverse faith groups and traditions, the city's representative on faith-based initiatives and a representative from Men United for a Better Philadelphia.
"This breakfast was the first step in preparing for a conference on violence that will address the many forms of violence occurring in the Haddington community as well as action plans to increase safety for our families and neighbors," Rookard said.
A June 10 "Silent March for Peace in the Community" was the second anti-violence event. Led by Michel Nutter, a city councilman, the community walked in protest to the increasing violence throughout neighborhood.
The crowd of primarily female senior citizens walked from the Camphor Church parking lot, passing other faith-based institutions. "The march was wonderful," said Carol Black, a member of the board of directors of Camphor Council for Community Development. "There were 50 to 60 people, we started with a prayer and we blew lots of yellow balloons."
Although the event was billed as a "silent" march, participants blew horns to alert the community so that it would pay attention to the joint efforts to transform the neighborhood into a better place.
"Lots of people looked through their windows to see what was going on," Black said. "We had a chance to hand out flyers and minister to people."
Men United for a Better Philadelphia has been working to combat violence in the city, especially among youth, for several years. Bilal Qayyum, a representative who attended the April 4 breakfast, believes violence and other anti-social behaviors have several causes, including "lack of hope, no (job) opportunities ... lack of strong parent-child relationships, not enough men in households and the availability of guns."
Qayyum said as more institutions become involved in trying to resolve these problems, the solutions will be more effective. And, "instilling more spiritual values in families is really part of the long term solution," he said.
Camphor Church received a grant from the Office of Urban and Global Ministries of the Eastern Pennsylvania Annual Conference for the conference on violence.
*Furtado, an intern at United Methodist Communications, is a senior communications major at United Methodist-related Rust College, Holly Springs, Miss.
News media contact: Linda Green, (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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United Methodist News Service Photos and stories also available at: http://umns.umc.org
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