When David Stanley was growing up in the Riverside Apartments on Olson Drive, he said no one had any reason to worry about safety. Kids played basketball in the complex’ court and laughed together until all hours, and were never outside shouting distance of their parents.
“When I was coming up, there was never none of that [violence],” he said. “We all played together. There was maybe a fistfight, but never nothing like that – shooting, stabbings. Never.”
Now, his young son is living in the same apartment he grew up in, and there are plenty of reasons to worry, with there being two murders in the complex since early summer.
The fatal stabbing of 22-year-old Jennifer Lewis in June and the shooting death of Bernice McFadden, 39, last month hung over the crowd during a march and “fellowship fest” at the complex Saturday.
During the noontime march, community members and residents of the complex walked through the complex carrying signs and flags, stopping to pray for the victims of violence.
As the walk finished, marchers lined their signs up along an exterior wall of the complex, underneath and inside barred first-floor windows.
Signs reading “Save our children,” “Stop the violence” and “We need God to help us” stressed the immediacy of the situation. Others carried messages of child-like simplicity, such as “God loves you. God, you’re best. Do not shoot people. God doesn’t like that.”
The group then turned its focus to the future, joining hands and bowing their heads as Pastor Nathan Page of the Bethany-based Full Faith Outreach led a group prayer for an end to violence in the future, and for forgiveness for letting the violence continue unabated for so long.
Dot Burgess of West Haven sang “Check Yourself, Love” to add to the mix.
A tent called the “Salvation Station” offered pamphlets from local churches and church groups, as well as information about avoiding violence.
The Salvation Army, Bridgeport Rescue Mission and many local churches were on hand, as well as churches from as far away as Rhode Island.
Victory Outreach Ministries, a national group that focuses on gang members and drug addicts, is trying to form a Bible study group at the apartment complex, said member Mike Villalpando.
There have been about 10 such community festivals at the apartment complex in the past, said organizer Barbara Casagrande of Ansonia, but this is the first one in which so many churches have been involved.
She attributed that in part to the recent violence, but added that she was pleased to see so much interest from religious groups.
“God is the only answer to keep the violence down,” she said.
Bernadette Towers of Branford, who was volunteering with West Haven-based Promised Land Church of God, had worked at similar events in the Bridgeport area and thought community support was a great help.
“Events like this, even if they’re only attended by a few people, are very effective,” she said. “People need to know you care.”
But not all the caring came from religious organizations. The Bridgeport Hospital School of Nursing’s booth provided free blood pressure screenings and health information pamphlets, and offered diabetics free meters to check their blood sugar.
Ansonia Police Officer Joseph “Action” Jackson was glad to see such community support. He has attended many of these events at the complex in the past, and said the turnout was larger than usual, which was a good thing.
“It gets tenants involved and brings them together,” he said. “Outsiders come in and let tenants know there’s a better way of life. … [the violence] has to stop. The tenants are tired of it and so is the community.”
