- Credibility:
ROSELAND — Rose Cafe, a Roseland-based online bookstore, will host a community peace walk this weekend.
Founder Iesha Malone is inviting the community to the second Guns Down Books Up Peace Walk 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday. Malone and community members will march to promote literacy, education and peace in Roseland, Malone said.
The march will begin at the Chicago Public Library’s Pullman Branch, 11001 S. Indiana Ave. Participants will head toward Burst into Books, a nonprofit focused on building literacy in Roseland, at 11001 S. Michigan Ave. There, the group can peruse a farmers market and participate in Rose Cafe’s back-to-school giveaway for. Local students will receive backpacks full of school supplies and books.
There will be 100 backpacks as part of the giveaway — 20 each for kindergarten through second-graders, for third- though fifth-graders, for sixth-through eighth-graders and for high schoolers, Malone said.
Malone said it means a lot to have the support of so many local groups.
“When the people in the neighborhood know who you are and are willing to work with you, that’s the real accomplishment,” she said.
Malone also said having community support for Rose Cafe events like the walk will help her establish a physical location for her bookstore.
“We’re stronger in numbers,” Malone said. “It won’t make sense if it’s just six of us out there. We want people to see that there’s a lot of people who believe in us, because who wants to get up on a Sunday morning? But those who are getting up on Sunday, if they don’t believe in the mission, they believe in me, and that’s powerful.”
Those looking to support the march and Rose Cafe can donate school supplies through Rose Cafe’s Amazon wishlist.
Rose Cafe’s Guns Down Books Up T-shirts can also be bought online.
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