Unity in the Community provides food, fun in Aiken Saturday

Landon Stamper, Aiken Standard, S.C.
·2 min read
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Jun. 12—A few dozen residents gathered at BreakFree Aiken on Saturday afternoon to play games, dance to music, eat and enjoy fellowship with others.

The church, located at 1411 Columbia Highway N, across from Crosland Park, hosted the free event, titled Unity in the Community, which was billed as a family fun day.

William Belo, BreakFree's pastor, said he sees a lot of people in the area who are hurting "so we just wanted to bring them some joy, show them some love and let them know that we're here."

"We want to feed them, we want to have fun, we want the kids to come out," Belo said. "We want to introduce them to a newness of life if they haven't experienced it yet."

Hamburgers, hot dogs and pizza were all offered, as well as popcorn, cotton candy and snow cones. Attendees could play cornhole or ladder toss, and there was even an inflatable bounce house for the children.

Bishop Tracy Reddick was at the event, and he said he wanted to come out to show support for the community. Reddick said it's about "showing everybody that we love them, showing everybody that there is still hope and that everything is going to get better."

"We definitely believe that unity is needed with everything that's going on," Reddick said.

Stephanie Walker shared a similar message. Walker, who is a member of the church, said she believes in giving back to the community and "trying to gain our youth back with all the gun violence and everything that's going on right now."

"If we don't reach out, they don't know we're here," Walker said.

Besides all the activities, there were also tents set up for a few different local agencies to give out information and talk to residents, including the Aiken Center — Alcohol and Drugs, Aiken Housing Authority and the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.

Colleen Bedenbaugh, a community health worker, was at the DHEC booth and said the agency came out to promote and discuss the COVID-19 vaccine.

"(We're) trying to answer any questions about the vaccine and any hesitancies people may have about it," Bedenbaugh said.