‘Celebrating Us’ Organizers Call First Event ‘Great’
September 15, 2019 at 11:19 p.m.
‘Celebrating Us’ Organizers Call First Event ‘Great’
By David [email protected]
“I think it’s been great. There’s been a bunch of people show up. I don’t know what the number is, but it looks like a couple of hundred or more,” Travis McConnell, One Warsaw board member, said late in the event.
“I think the community has shown great support and it’s been a great night. Couldn’t ask for better weather.”
One Warsaw is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to “inspire community inclusion through support, education and celebration of all people.” Celebrating Us is its first community event.
Board member Lyle Schrock said, “The turnout is great. I think it’s more than we expected, especially initially. And it’s great weather, great people, and it’s been a really good event and getting to know just a lot of people that I didn’t know and a lot of organizations also.”
Organizer Shari Benyousky said, “I am utterly pleased. This is fantastic. I’m just so pleased that there’s this many people that are willing to come and give everything a chance. Try new food. Try new people. This is wonderful.”
Nearly two dozen organizations had booths set up along the side of Center Street between Lake and Buffalo streets. They ranged from Warsaw Community Schools and Ivy Tech to Bowen Center, churches and LGBTQ organizations.
Near the intersection of Center and Buffalo streets was a main entertainment stage. Performers included a jazz band, Ballet Folklorico from Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, Indian dancers presenting classical and Bollywood dancing, GoProv improv group from Goshen and a rapper.
Various food vendors offered their wares in the city hall parking lot, while children could have fun in the bounce houses or adults could play some cornhole on the courthouse lawn.
Many different groups of people were represented at the four-hour event.
Benyousky said, “There’s a lot of diversity here. If you look around, there’s all kinds of people represented. Different nationalities, different colors. You name. Everybody’s here, I think.”
She said people were coming up to the One Warsaw booth and saying, “Thank you for doing this, this is so wonderful, we feel welcome.”
The event helps show that the community is welcoming and “we want you here, we want to see what you do, what are the special things you can do, so it’s fantastic,” Benyousky said.
For the future, Schrock said, “From here I think we just keep building blocks of following our mission and educating and inspiring inclusion in our community. So just little building blocks. Nothing too big of a step, just little bit by little, I think, and having events and things like that definitely help out.”
Benyousky said One Warsaw has its logo and they want it to become known enough that they will show up in car windows, businesses and more “just so people can say we’re a welcoming community. We want that to happen, but we also want to do future events where we just continue to build on this theme of being welcoming and being diverse and looking forward to the future because the future is a lot more diverse looking, economically speaking and in a lot of different ways.”
One Warsaw has two open meetings a month, on the second and fourth Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at The Lab on East Center Street, Warsaw, McConnell said. More details can be found on its Facebook page; and its email is [email protected].
“Thank you for your support, Warsaw,” McConnell said.
Benyousky stated, “I just want to say thank you to this community for being so amazingly welcoming.”
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“I think it’s been great. There’s been a bunch of people show up. I don’t know what the number is, but it looks like a couple of hundred or more,” Travis McConnell, One Warsaw board member, said late in the event.
“I think the community has shown great support and it’s been a great night. Couldn’t ask for better weather.”
One Warsaw is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to “inspire community inclusion through support, education and celebration of all people.” Celebrating Us is its first community event.
Board member Lyle Schrock said, “The turnout is great. I think it’s more than we expected, especially initially. And it’s great weather, great people, and it’s been a really good event and getting to know just a lot of people that I didn’t know and a lot of organizations also.”
Organizer Shari Benyousky said, “I am utterly pleased. This is fantastic. I’m just so pleased that there’s this many people that are willing to come and give everything a chance. Try new food. Try new people. This is wonderful.”
Nearly two dozen organizations had booths set up along the side of Center Street between Lake and Buffalo streets. They ranged from Warsaw Community Schools and Ivy Tech to Bowen Center, churches and LGBTQ organizations.
Near the intersection of Center and Buffalo streets was a main entertainment stage. Performers included a jazz band, Ballet Folklorico from Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, Indian dancers presenting classical and Bollywood dancing, GoProv improv group from Goshen and a rapper.
Various food vendors offered their wares in the city hall parking lot, while children could have fun in the bounce houses or adults could play some cornhole on the courthouse lawn.
Many different groups of people were represented at the four-hour event.
Benyousky said, “There’s a lot of diversity here. If you look around, there’s all kinds of people represented. Different nationalities, different colors. You name. Everybody’s here, I think.”
She said people were coming up to the One Warsaw booth and saying, “Thank you for doing this, this is so wonderful, we feel welcome.”
The event helps show that the community is welcoming and “we want you here, we want to see what you do, what are the special things you can do, so it’s fantastic,” Benyousky said.
For the future, Schrock said, “From here I think we just keep building blocks of following our mission and educating and inspiring inclusion in our community. So just little building blocks. Nothing too big of a step, just little bit by little, I think, and having events and things like that definitely help out.”
Benyousky said One Warsaw has its logo and they want it to become known enough that they will show up in car windows, businesses and more “just so people can say we’re a welcoming community. We want that to happen, but we also want to do future events where we just continue to build on this theme of being welcoming and being diverse and looking forward to the future because the future is a lot more diverse looking, economically speaking and in a lot of different ways.”
One Warsaw has two open meetings a month, on the second and fourth Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at The Lab on East Center Street, Warsaw, McConnell said. More details can be found on its Facebook page; and its email is [email protected].
“Thank you for your support, Warsaw,” McConnell said.
Benyousky stated, “I just want to say thank you to this community for being so amazingly welcoming.”
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