Merced Peace for Family’s Mach and Community Gathering Oct 4th 2018
This was my first time helping officially with the Peace for Families March and I wanted to feature a new location to start the March. We normally started at the County Courthouse Park and March to a venue downtown. I felt that it was a bit short and wanted to stretch out the distance a bit plus the fountain is one of my favorite photo ops in town. I wanted to invite people to a new spot they might have only drove past rushing down M St. Today they took the time to see Merced and spread awareness about Domestic Violence.
The march participants arrived at the city hall at 6:00 Pm, where they were met by community resources and refreshments.
Man, I worked up a sweat trying to capture the video and photos of our March. They were loud from the very start with the chant. “There is no excuse for domestic abuse, Stop the violence. “ We had around 50 participants in the march and about 100 total people at the community gathering held at the Civic Center. The Mayor and a survivor spoke to the crowd. Hotdogs were sponsored from the Merced Breakfast Lions.
Los Banos Peace for Family’s Mach and Community Gathering Oct 16th 2018
This was my first time working with Los Banos Chief of police Gary Breeze. The Police department was a huge partner in this event. The Chief started up the march with opening remarks and then we proceeded to march to the community Center where the Mayor opened up the evening with heartfelt words of encouragement followed by testimony from a survivor of Domestic Violence. District Attorney Kimberly Helms Lewis also spoke on the DA’s trust and support for Valley Crisis Center and the work we provide to Merced County. Hotdogs were sponsored from Los Banos Soroptimist.
I want to thank those who attended and support either event and I hope to see you next year!
~Robert, Volunteer Specialist