Annual Mother’s Day Walk for Peace raises funds and hopes

When Janice V. Johnson lost her brother to violence in 2006, she felt lost. Soon after, she found the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute (LDBPI) and their Walk for Peace.

“I knew about walks and people coming together, so I told my mother, but she was still in the bed, not moving, going through what she’s going through. So I decided that I was going to do this for my mother. I just kind of felt this connection,” she said.

From speaking to her now, it’s hard to believe that Johnson’s first experience with the Mother’s Day Walk for Peace was almost 20 years ago. She remembers it like it was yesterday.

“It wasn’t a whole bunch of us, but it was pouring rain and cold, but everyone just stayed on Dorchester Ave. and gathered together. Clementina was just so happy you could see the passion in her eyes and in her speech to everyone. I knew this was the place that I’m supposed to be connected with, and I stayed connected with them ever since. Now, I work there,” said LDBPI’s development events manager.

The 29th Annual Mother’s Day Walk for Peace will be held May 11, starting at Dorchester’s Town Field Park at 8 a.m. The annual Mother’s Day event is the organization’s biggest fundraiser.

“It’s the largest fundraiser of the year for the Peace Institute. We raise money for services, programs and survivor outreach services. We help survivors in the first 24 to 72 hours to bury their loved one with dignity, compassion and respect for those who don’t have the funds. We also have an ongoing healing that happens, workshops, self-care, different things that help survivors. We also train the community, hospitals, and organizations on a burial guide,” she said.

Team Flyboy 5ive huddles together at the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute’s 2024 Mother’s Day Walk for Peace. PHOTO: COURTESY OF JANICE V. JOHNSON

In addition to services for survivors, LDBPI offers help for those affected by incarceration.

“They have re-entry now, because this is part of our services as well. They work with incarcerated loved ones. My son was incarcerated, so I connected back with the Peace Institute on that level of service to help me with my son. I couldn’t believe it. They work with those who cause harm as well. So we work with those on both sides. It was family for me. They helped me and so many others with healing,” the mother said.

Sadly, Johnson lost her son in 2023 when he was the victim of a vehicular homicide. Returning to the walk in 2024 was a special moment for the grieving mother. Coming from a musical family, she honored her son through song after donating his heart.

“The song ‘Heartbeat’ by Tiana Gardner, I used that beat and his heartbeat in a song he’s rapping. Then I rapped what he wrapped to him, and I produced a song from his heartbeat. I pieced it all together in a studio and I played it last year at the walk. It’s all about the heart and everything. So that’s why the walk is so meaningful for me. For me, it keeps my son alive, and it also shows others,” she said.

Sharing that moment with the people at the walk meant a lot to Johnson because she feels so connected to the other survivors.

“We know it’s a tragedy. It feels bad, we’re heartbroken, but there are so many different ways and creative ways that we can keep our children alive. That’s what the walk really means for me: families coming together. I see families at the walk that I haven’t seen all year or for two years. People come out because it’s so important for families, for the world, and I’m going to say the world, to see our loved ones, face on banners, on T shirts, their names on posters, just everywhere, so that the mothers, they walk for peace and to see all those faces of loved ones,” she said.

The annual event may be the organization’s largest fundraiser but if you’re hurting you shouldn’t let the financial goal stop you from coming.

“Come be with us, because you’re not alone. You don’t have to be alone, and it’s okay. You will feel so uplifted at the walk. It is an amazing feeling.  We’re here to hold you. We’re here to uplift you. We’re here to lock arms with you. What’s the new thing? Now we put your boots on the ground. We put our boots on the ground with you and everything else too, because we’re here for you. And survivors have to see the unity. It’s so sad. It’s so many, so many faces.  But we’re here in unity. So come on, said Johnson

If you can’t make the walk or have experienced loss because of violence, Johnson wants you to know that you are not alone.

“Our doors are open. You can call or you can ring the bell and someone will serve you. Our doors are open for everyone. I just want I like to stress that, it doesn’t matter if it wasn’t an immediate family member that was traumatized through grief or homicide or if you are a friend that comes to the door and said, ‘my best friend just died’ or even if you come and say ‘my son just committed homicide, I need help.’ You can come right on in the door and get the help that you need,” Johnson said.