A Georgetown woman is inviting the community to “Walk for Peace” on Saturday, March 19th.
“Join us for a ‘Walk for Peace’,” according to the Facebook event. “The Peace Walk is brought to you by the ‘Unite for Peace’ group led by Laurie Schwenk, local Georgetown resident. Please join us in our efforts to focus on peace in our city, state, and country.”
Laurie Schwenk, Founder of Unite for Peace, told Hello Georgetown the original idea sprouted from a sermon she heard one Sunday. At the end, the congregation sang “Let There Be Peace on Earth.” Over the next several days, she continued to see the theme of ‘peace’ pop up again and again in her daily activities.
“‘Alright,’ I said, ‘I’m supposed to do something.’ [The song] says ‘Let it begin with me,” Schwenk said. “So, I thought about it over the weekend and I said, ‘It all started with a sermon [on] peace…I’m going to call my ministers at church.'”
Schwenk’s ministers encouraged her to put a committee together and come up with a way to cultivate a greater atmosphere of peace in the community. So, she gathered seven community members together and got to work.
“We brainstormed and we kept meeting, and then one day after church…my sister-in-law and me…drove through the San Gabriel Park and [it was a] very peaceful atmosphere,” Schwenk said. “Father and son fishing in the San Gabriel river, a couple pushing their children on the swings, another woman was unpacking a picnic basket for lunch, and I thought, ‘This is the perfect place. It’s peaceful…this is a great place for a walk!'”
The committee approved the idea at their next meeting and now preparations are underway for Georgetown’s 1st Walk for Peace.
“There’s no registration fee, no trophies,” Schwenk said. “It’s not that type of event. It’s just come out, we’re concentrating on the word ‘peace.'”
As this first event gets underway, Schwenk said she hopes this event becomes an annual tradition and pops up in communities across the country.
“My vision was that if people texted their friends, their families in other cities, that it would catch on in other cities and states,” Schwenk said. “It would be wonderful if they do this type of event and promote peace, and maybe we could get back to something peaceful in our country again.”
Georgetown’s 1st Walk for Peace will take place on Saturday, March 19th at 10 AM in San Gabriel Park. The walk is 1.6 miles and loops around the park. While there is no fee for the walk, attendees are asked to please RSVP at uniteforpeacegtx@gmail.com or at this link by 3/12/22. Learn more by visiting the event page here.
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