When Anthony Walker was a kid growing up in the Sandfield community of Columbus, there was always something to do.
“We didn’t have video games and all that, but there were so many things going on, mostly outdoor activities,” recalled Walker, now 42. “We would walk down the railroad trestle and slide down the hill on cardboard, jump rope, play kickball and basketball. We would watch the older kids breakdance.
“It’s not like that anymore,” he added. “Kids need something to do. We used to make our own fun. Kids don’t seem to be able to do that today. They need a little help.”
His old Sandfield neighborhood — and Southside in general — has become something far different than the lively, peaceful community he recalls from his childhood.
“Now, with all the gun violence we’ve been seeing and all the domestic violence around, I just saw it was time to do something. I want Sandfield to be a safe place for kids. And not just Sandfield, but all the neighborhoods.”
Walker works at Mississippi Steel Processing. In his off time, he’s a volunteer with the Columbus Mentor Group.
About a month ago, Walker began organizing the Sandfield Rise Up Community Foundation, a grassroots organization focused on reaching out to the community — especially children — to offer hope to an area that seems to have lost much of its old spirit.
The group held its first event Saturday, the inaugural Sandfield Community Day and Back2School Drive. Walker hopes the event will serve as a rallying point for the community.
“I was thinking about all the things we’d like to do to get the community unified,” Walker said. “For a long time, I’ve been attending all these festivals — Southside Blues, Seventh Avenue Heritage Festival, the Market Street Festival. All of them bring their area together. I started thinking, ‘Why don’t we have anything like this in Sandfield?’”
Saturday’s event focused heavily, but not entirely, on children, and the Back2School Drive added an element not often offered for other events, which mainly focus on school supplies.
“Kids need more than supplies when they go back to school,” Walker said. “There are things they need to know about what they may have to deal with, things like bullying and fights. Kids need to know what to do if that happens to them. What should they do?”
In addition to the free food and entertainment, Walker brought in city officials — including Mayor Keith Gaskin, Police Chief Fred Shelton and Ward 1 Councilperson Ethel Steward — to talk about what the city can do to help improve the community.
“We wanted the kids to get more than a hotdog,” Walker said.
Walker is well aware of the reputation of Sandfield and Southside, especially among those who live outside the community.
“Yes, there is gun violence and crime and domestic abuse,” he said. “But what people don’t know is that there are a lot of really good people here who love their neighborhood and want to see it improve.”
Saturday’s event, Walker said, was also an effort to bring those groups and individuals together to create some synergy and, perhaps, some shared projects.
“What we really need are older people who can help these kids, give them something positive to do, whatever it is,” Walker said. “You can ask a kid if he likes to fish, but if he doesn’t have a fishing pole, that’s not going to be something for him. So the idea is to get people talking to kids, find out what they like to do and then come together to find a way to make it happen.
“What’s going on in Sandfield with all the gun violence and bad stuff, we can change it if we come together,” he added. “That’s the only way it’s going to happen, It’s our community and our responsibility.”
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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