Throwing a lifeline: Man with a mission
Twenty-nine murders in 2012 in Fort Wayne have left a community questioning its resolve and capacity for healing. Throughout that turmoil and all that of preceeding years, Foundation One has been a source of the community strength, penchant for peace, and driving activism to do something for the young men and families caught in what seems this spiraling cycle of violence.
On Thursday, January 24, Brother Foundation has teamed with the Three Rivers Institute of Afrikan Art & Culture (TRIAAC) to bring his lessons for healing and establishing internal peace to the community. On the 24th he will Throw the Lifeline to people perpetrating violence and those on the receiving end. The introductory session is free to the public.
Not one to ascribe blame for the violence to anyone, Foundation is offering a 9-week session of the course from February 7 through April 4. Workshop participants are expected to give a good will offering for the classes they attend.
You can register for the classes by going to http://triaac.org/3578/register-to-catch-a-lifeline/, contacting TRIAAC at 260 969‑9442, emailing triaacadmin@comcast.net.
Recent coverage of violence in Fort Wayne
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Lessons of violence too often unshared
Crime rates for Fort Wayne, IN
I’m a man of peace. I don’t blame violence in the community on poverty, drugs, racism or a lack of opportunity. It’s not a white thing or a black thing. It’s a spiritual thing. The demons can enter any man. There’s violence everywhere. Why? People didn’t know God. I attribute everything to not knowing God. My life was spared so that I could find and teach a way of peace.
Life’s Lessons
Life’s lessons come hard for many people; and sometimes despite the pain of loss and limitation, we still don’t understand enough to act upon what life is trying to teach us. In those cases it is wise to find someone who has been there, and done that. Such a man is Foundation One, whose primary education was during his teens in “street life.” It’s only after he was shot at the age of 15 that Life’s Lesson for him became clear—the way of peace is how to recover and then prevent the pain of critical mistakes in your own and others’ lives.
Foundation One, the owner-operator of Unity Barbershop—a Pontiac Street salon where you can get your “head cut” and soul washed—has made the benefit of that experience available to young people, parents, and institutions for more than 20 years. Now with the city in the midst of another epidemic of violence, Foundation One is opening himself to the general public.
On January 24 he will hold a community gathering to introduce his passion, “Throwing a Lifeline,” the compendium drawn from a peaceful man’s life lessons.
The 90-minute forum will address issues of violence and its healing antidote. From 6–7:30, at TRIAAC, the Three Rivers Institute of Afrikan Art & Culture, 501 E. Brackenridge Street, Foundation One will detail facts of violence and illustrate the lessons to be gleaned. The forum will be followed with nine weekly workshops, beginning February 7 and ending April 4, the anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
For more information call TRIAAC at 260 969‑9442.
