The ThunderBlogs

When Pastor Joe Russell from the New Beginnings Baptist Church found out that Woodland Park was already booked for Saturday Sept. 19, he saw an opportunity.

The park had been booked by the Grandview-Woodland Community Policing Centre for their annual event, Cops, Kids and Commercial Drive.

By hosting the church’s community day in the same space, both New Beginnings and the community policing centre had the chance to reach out to people who might not otherwise come to their event.

From noon until 3 p.m., community policing centre volunteers led the activities. Kids could ride bikes through a traffic safety course, learn how to call 9-1-1, and meet a police dog.

The community policing centre hoped that by bringing families to Woodland Park, parents would feel safer coming back with their kids, Adrian Archambault said. When a parent complains that they feel uncomfortable in a park because there are “people hanging around,” it often says more about the person making the complaint than it does about the safety of the space, Archambault said.

A row of tables split the park two. From one table hung a banner that read “Everyone Welcome!” and in smaller print, “Aboriginals 4 Jesus.” Behind the tables, two grey-haired men gave Christian-themed books to children who stopped to look.

At 3 p.m. Cops Kids and Commercial Drive volunteers lowered tents, while churchgoers erected a small stage on the other side of the park. The congregation of New Beginnings, mostly aboriginal and poor, gathered.

Davie Paul rode up on a bicycle and was greeted with an embrace from Russell. Silver and black hairs strayed from under his backwards baseball cap. He asked, “Pastor Joe, are you going to feed us some good food today?” Paul turns 57 next month.

A girl asked Russell why the potato sack race hadn’t started. Her face was painted with a pink butterfly and decorated with sequins. Her wide grin exposed two missing front teeth, and the teeth on either side of the gap were capped in metal.

Dr. Don Bartlette came to the Baptist Church event as a guest speaker. Born with a cleft palate, Bartlette had spent 12 years as an outcast from his aboriginal community before finding God, he said.  Bartlette waived his usual $2000 speaking fee, Russell said. “I came to speak to my people,” Bartlette said.

The Baptist Church had encouraged its congregation to participate in the community policing centre’s event. “In our church we teach that cops are our friends,” Russell said, “even if there are some bad cops.”