Lillian Lockette is determined to make a positive impact on her community, and that was the goal for The Common Chord: A Lake County Community Celebration.
The Lake County Democratic Black Caucus hosted the nonpartisan outreach event Saturday at First Trinity Academy at First Presbyterian Church in Leesburg. The event brought together various churches and nonprofit organizations to not only celebrate the community but to pinpoint its various needs.
“We felt it was time for the community to stand up and support itself,” said Lockette, president of the Lake County Democratic Black Caucus. “Back in the day, people in the community were always together and caring for one another. Now, I feel we’ve become so separate. The more we can identify the needs of the community, the greater impact we will have.”
The celebration featured musical, praise dance and spoken word performances. Mt. Olive Progressive Baptist Church choir in Leesburg opened the event with “Fight On” by Kevin Davidson and The Voices. Christina Leggett, of Heritage Community Church in Fruitland Park, sang “Trust in God, by Elevation Worship. Ahjanae Bernad of First Baptist Church in Mount Dora, performed “A Change Is Going To Come” by Sam Cooke. Grace and Motions of Mt. Calvary Missionary Baptist Church followed with a praise dance.
Leah Clark of Friendship CME Church in Tavares brought the crowd to their feet after reciting poet Amanda Gorman’s “The Hill We Climb.” The Mt. Calvary Missionary Baptist Church choir performed two songs before Fred Rahming Jr., of the Citadel of Hope Ministries in Leesburg, gave the final musical performance.
Between performances, several community leaders who are running for office introduced themselves and told the audience how they will benefit the community. The celebration also offered attendees the chance to share their thoughts on how to improve the community through its Wall of Dreams. Organizers gave each attendee a piece of paper that asked two questions: What is one thing in our community that you feel needs the most attention right now? And, what role would you like to play (big or small) in making that change happen?
Mae Hazelton, a member of the caucus who helped coordinate the event, pinned the responses to the Walls of Dreams. Lockette said the caucus will take the notes and use them as guides on how to continue providing assistance.
“This event gave us the chance to meet people in person,” she said. “I’m really proud of what we are doing and interested to see how we can serve based on what people have said. The children are our future and if we don’t help them, we won’t survive or succeed.”
Community organizations in attendance were the Lake, Sumter and Marion Counties Section of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), All About The Ballot and The Communtiy Development Corporation of Leesburg.
Lockette, who is a member of several nonprofits including the local chapter of NCNW, said although several of these organizations have a similar mission, the work of each organization makes an impact. She said while working within the community she’s seen the needs firsthand.
“We have a common call to help preserve the community,” Lockette said. “We do that by focusing on the needs of the community and there is so much need. We have an affordable housing issue in Lake County. We have kids who rely on free lunch to get food. I didn’t know we had homeless children until connecting with Beverly Shores Elementary School. We have to do more to look out for each other.”
Cheryl Gibson, another caucus member who helped plan the event, said she told almost everyone she came into contact with about the event because, “We have business to take care of.
“’Faith without works is dead,’” she said, quoting James 2:17 from the Bible. “We have to get our young people informed and make sure they don’t have the same struggles we did. We have to talk amongst ourselves and the generations behind us.”
For more information about the Lake County Democratic Black Caucus, visit lakedemocrats.com
Staff writer Brea Jones can be reached at 352-753-1119, ext. 5414, or brea.jones@thevillagesmedia.com.
