Milton — Three years ago local pastor Michael Brown, of West Florida Baptist Church, saw a divide in the country that ran down racial lines, he said. There was the Ferguson, Missouri shooting of Michael Brown and the Charleston, South Carolina shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. He believed if he could get the right people together he could show the people of the community they were better than what the media reported.
"If we know each other, we'll love each other," said Brown.
Brown went directly to the Reverand Murray Hamilton of Heart of God Ministries and Daniel Hahn of the nonprofit SAFER Santa Rosa. Brown partnered with Hamilton because he is a leader in the African American community and Hahn because of his community connections and ability to get things done, Brown said.
Together they came up with Love My Neighbor Day. The event is a celebration of getting to know people in the community — everyone's neighbors. This Saturday was the third year of the event and it attracted 1,000 people.
Brown said the number of people attending has stayed about the same since the first event, but the attractions for kids and families keeps getting bigger. Brown's church has managed to keep the event free. Everything there from food to rides is free.
"The main thing we try to do is bring people together," Brown said. "A lot of times we come up with preconceived ideas in our minds. But the only way to bring down these walls is to really have relationships (and) communicate."
"All I can say is I applaud Pastor Brown and West Florida Baptist Church for sponsoring the event," said Hamilton. He said he liked that everyone could get together for the event.
Hahn said Brown brought him and Hamilton in because of his original intent — to show the people of the community that they were not like the rest of the country and if they know each other they can love each other.
According to Brown, that is the idea behind this event.
"We want people to come and meet somebody new," he said, "(to) build a new relationship to keep our community strong.
"Love your neighbor as yourself," Brown said, paraphrasing Mark 12:31.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Love My Neighbor Day