Northside Recovery and Resource Center and HOPE Thru Navigation host 5th Annual Walk for the Voiceless

Northside Recovery and Resource Center and HOPE Thru Navigation are hosting the 5th Annual Walk & Rally for the Voiceless to raise awareness for folks who have suffered from substance abuse or sexual assault. The event specifically raises awareness for the voiceless; those who have been suffering in silence, or have been silenced by death.

Northside Recovery and Resource Center and HOPE Thru Navigation are hosting the 5th Annual Walk & Rally for the Voiceless to raise awareness for folks who have suffered from substance abuse or sexual assault. The event specifically raises awareness for the voiceless; those who have been suffering in silence, or have been silenced by death. The Walk for the Voiceless will be held Oct. 31 at 2 p.m., and will start at the Northside Recovery and Resource Center.

 

Gwendolyn Hooker, Executive Director of HOPE Thru Navigation, knows this silent suffering all too well after watching a family member, Tammy Kelley, battle with substance abuse and the effects of sexual assault all her life. Hooker says that Tammy suffered in silence; no one could have looked at her and known what she was going through.

 

“She was very bubbly and happy. Looking at her from the outside you would never guess that she was an addict or that she had endured probably some of the most atrocious crimes as a child that you could imagine,” Hooker said.

 

Hooker saw evidence of Tammy’s suffering in private.

 

“She slept sitting up at the side of the bed,” Hooker said. “For all my adult life, I have never seen her sleep through the night.” 

 

Tammy lived on and off with Hooker throughout her life. Tammy named her son, Brandon Mont’Clair Kelley, after Hooker’s son, Anthony Mont’Clair. Tammy passed due to a heroin overdose in 2015. Brandon Kelley was shot and killed this fall.

"We march for Tammy" Written on back of sweatshirt

The 5th Annual Walk for the Voiceless is dedicated to Brandon and Tammy Kelley. This year, the event is evolving to raise awareness to those affected by gun violence as well. Brandon Kelley’s death was not a singular instance of gun violence, but part of a pattern. Shootings in Kalamazoo for 2020 had increased 60 percent from 2019, according to statistics gathered this August. The numbers have only increased from there. At the beginning October there were six victims of gun violence in eight days.

 

In face of the rising threat of gun violence, the Walk for the Voiceless will include a call to action for the first time. 

 

“We are asking for the city and county to declare gun violence as a catastrophe in the county of Kalamazoo,” Hooker said. “It’s not that it’s so specific to our city, it's happening everywhere, but with Kalamazoo being as small as it is, it's definitely disproportionate to the size that we are experiencing.”

 

Attendees are encouraged to walk for people they know who have suffered from substance abuse, sexual assault, or gun violence. Stickers will be distributed that say, “I walk for ___” where the names of loved ones can be written. Event souvenir shirts and masks will be available for purchase by Flossy's Customs & Photos. Cookies and coffee will be served by Davis Delectable's and Walnut & Park Cafe, respectively. Park Street Market, Vine Neighborhood Association, and State Representative Jon Hoadley, are also partners in this event. 

The walk is not very long, but is very intentionally planned to follow a route significant to Tammy’s life. 

 

“I want to make sure that no one ever forgets Tammy Kelley,” Hooker said.

 

The weather on the day of the event is forecasted to be bright and sunny, a first in the history of this walk, Hooker says. With the sun shining hopefully down on marchers this Saturday, the circumstances will be ideal for remembering the loved ones whose names are written on stickers, and whose faces are plastered across signs: like Tammy and Brandon Kelley.