Today begins another edition of a week that celebrates the best of the human spirit, and the strength of those who turn tragedy into something more.
Violence Awareness and Random Acts of Kindness Week runs from today until Sunday, with the week’s activities starting tonight with a candlelight community vigil at 7 pm.
In dozens of local schools, blue ribbons will be prominently seen, each one a reminder of how personal tragedy was turned into hope for a better future.
I well remember the tragic events more than 30 years ago when 18-year-old Mark Fyke was fatally shot during a robbery attempt while on vacation in Florida.
His death sent shockwaves through his hometown of Belleville and the entire region, sparking a manhunt for the suspect and an eventual trial that led to a lifetime sentence for the shooter.
In the aftermath, Mark’s mom Chris took that pain and turned it into something more positive and something that can lead to a better today and tomorrow for all of us.
Now we have Blue Ribbon of Hope Day, Kindness Crews, colouring contests for local students, bursaries to help with education and both a time to remember the victims of violence and to use kindness to build a better tomorrow.
It is an enduring legacy not only to Mark but the resilience of everyone at VARAK to turn grief into goodness and pain into progress. It’s a difficult road to travel, but fortunately we have Chris to guide us as she has now for more than three decades.
I’m Paul Martin and that’s what I see looking Beyond the Headlines.
