“It is truly a beautiful ceremony and touching moment when the balloons are released,” said Lily Cola, masters of social work student. “It is comforting just looking at the sky after the release. You really feel at peace.”
Cola, along with other students and faculty in the school of social work, helps every year to put on the annual Remember Me walk.
This year, the walk was held at the bell tower on Monday, Sept. 30, from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. with over 350 survivors and loved ones of sudden violent loss in attendance.
The event was developed out of a homicide survivors group led by Theresa Blakely, professor of social work, and Nita Mehr, professor of social work and associate dean of the school of social work. When the survivors expressed that they wanted to have a place to honor the survivors, loved ones and victims of sudden tragic loss, the walk was created.
“Everyone remembers the names of the perpetrators, but no one remembers the names of their loved ones,” said Hanna Mead, Union alumna. “They wanted a place where they could go to hold pictures and signs up as a reminder to the world that their loved one’s life mattered.”
The Remember Me walk is sponsored by the Center for Just and Caring Communities, an organization within the school of social work. The center focuses on the trauma, faith and resilience initiative, and the walk was created out of that.
“I think the walk is so important because, to our knowledge, there isn’t another event in the area that is like this,” said Mead. “It is not a fundraiser; rather, it’s a free event that is dedicated to giving survivors a safe space to remember and honor their loved ones.”
The event brings comfort and peace to survivors of the victims of sudden tragic loss in the community. It is a place for them to gather in unison to honor their lives. They are reminded that they or their loved one will not be forgotten.
“Although it’s hard for me to put a limit on the walk, if I had to use one word to describe it, I would say solidarity,” Mead said.
