Thursday, September 24, 2009

WTVI’s Campaign for Love & Forgiveness Begins Fourth and Final Year


WTVI will hold the kick-off event for the final year of the Campaign for Love & Forgiveness on September 30, from 6-8 p.m. in the Sykes Auditorium at Queens University. A project of the Fetzer Institute in Kalamazoo, MI, the campaign is a community engagement initiative that helps people discover the transformative power that love and forgiveness can bring.

Through facilitated conversations in six cities, and a robust Web site (http://www.loveandforgive.org/) that offers a thorough curriculum, the campaign has touched thousands of people since its launch in 2006. At least 70 percent of participants have reported that as a result of their participation, they would be more likely to forgive themselves for mistakes and offer forgiveness to others.

Six public television stations receive funding from the Fetzer Institute to develop partnerships with local organizations and host events unique to the communities they serve. In addition to WTVI Charlotte, the stations are KEET Eureka, CA; KPBS San Diego, CA; Maryland Public Television; WGVU Grand Rapids, MI; and WXXI Rochester, NY.

The symbol of WTVI’s local campaign is the Red Bench of Love. WTVI has partnered with local organizations including Mothers of Murdered Offspring (MOM-O). In 2006, as part of the campaign, the MOM-O held a memorial service at Charlotte’s Frazier Park in honor of Jin Joo Byrne, a female missionary slain at a Charlotte apartment complex in 2002. Isabella and Martin Byrne sat on the Red Bench and shared a moment of understanding and forgiveness for the man convicted of killing their daughter. They then traveled to the prison in Raleigh to forgive him in person.

“I’ve seen walls come down and burdens lifted through this project, which is open to anyone,” says Beverly Dorn-Steele, WTVI’s Director of Community Engagement. “I’m eager to see the impact in the Charlotte area this year.”

As a special treat at the kickoff event, all participants may view the “Freedom in Creation” Exhibit at the Max L. Jackson Gallery on the Queens University Campus. The exhibit displays art and peace-building efforts for child victims of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda.

Registration is available at: www.wtvi.org/CampaignforLoveandForgiveness_000.cfm

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