Last summer, in the middle of the all-of-a-sudden kickball genesis at Hoyt Park, Terra Riley was aiming to get some spontaneous gospel going. People were huddled close enough that a good hymn might catch on.
Then came the late-afternoon cloudbursts. There may have been some gloom at the time that her idea was washed out, but still, Terra’s rain-shortened vision from that memorable 2022 day is becoming a Sunday sequel for this weekend’s 2023 Unity in the Community Tri-City Kickbowl.
Games still are Saturday, starting at 10 a.m. But to complement this year’s second go-round, she is organizing a Throwback Church Picnic Prayer and Praise from 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday, back at the park.
Vendors will return, and so Kickball II has a full followup day. As an added crowd-pleaser, the championship kickball match is reserved for a noon start, which will make Saginaw’s ‘Kickball Sunday’ a reverse of the usual Super Bowl — church happens after the game, not before.
Terra attended Webber Middle until her family moved to Lansing, and she still considers Saginaw home. She has had an entire year to plan a gospel program titled “kickball reunion,” with numerous choir groups and even a comic (clean, of course) and gospel karaoke.
Plus, there will be free Bibles for all, says Riley, minister of music and a 25-year member at Transforming Life Church Ministries, downtown on Hayden at Warren.
Her theme Sunday “is people fellowshipping and sharing the love of God. The world has changed drastically since my days of middle school. I grew up in a faith-filled Saginaw. I want my children and grandchildren to know that ‘Saginaw Energy’.”
She continues her reasons for reaching beyond the four walls: “Churches fellowshipped in the community when I was growing up. That’s why we had a sense of love and respect for each other. Our lives mattered.”
‘No Cover’ Friday
Organizer Chuckie Lawrence in no way seeks to profit from a casual “Rep Your School Cabaret” prelude from 6 p.m. to midnight Friday at UAW Local 467 Hall, 2104 Farmer. There is no cover charge, in exchange for no drama.
It is in this type of night-out setting that Lawrence and his friends began thinking of original ways to address violent incidents in the community, and came up with the kickball idea.
Anyone of any age may join the games at the north end of Hoyt Park. Arrangements have been made for streamlined parking so there won’t be the backups that took place a year ago, when the size of the gathering was a surprise even to those who planned it.
“With all of the shootings, Saginaw has developed too much of a negative reputation and image,” Lawrence says. “I love the positive idea of people saying ‘no’ to the violence through a game that we all played together as kids.”
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