Before we could see the end of 2015, our community was saddened to hear that Jasmine Samuels, a resident of Apopka, and a mother of two, was locked in her own trunk and was killed by her estranged boyfriend. Another black life lost.
Sydel LeGrande, M.D. is the owner of Your Place Medical Center Orlando and Tampa and founder of Fruit of Glory Ministries Inc. a non-profit charitable organization. Since January 2015, there have been over 70 murders in Orange County where over 50 were black people who were killed by black people. Dr. LeGrande is determined to stop this cycle of hate in the Black community. She believes that Love and reverence for God and Love of self is what got us as a people through the worst of times in our past, and is what will get us through these times.
Dr. Le Grande’s primary initiative is to be a change agent transforming economically disenfranchised communities plagued with violence into peaceful economically strong neighborhoods. She believes that communities change like people change, from the inside out. Working with children, training them and molding them in the way that is right, will make a difference in our communities today and in the future The name of her initiative is “Changing the Game For A New Generation,”
Dr, LeGrande has held several Call to Action gatherings in black communities around Orange county including Parramore, Washington Shores, and Pine Hills. The purpose of these gatherings is to mobilize and galvanize our community to strategically and systemically address the problem of Black on Black crime. Even if you haven’t had an opportunity to attend one of these collaborative gatherings, she and her team would like to personally invite you and the community to the next Call to Action Meeting in Apopka. On Tuesday, February 9, 2016, from 6pm to 8pm at the John Bridges Community Center, located at 445 W. 13th Street. The problem will be outlined and the solutions discussed. She welcomes your input.
The true casualties of street warfare in the Black community start with the children, which have lost a parent, family member or a sibling. Dr. LeGrande’s goal is not to reinvent the wheel, but to collaborate with churches, schools, other community groups and the police, to implement a pilot program that will be incorporated in our school system that ends the cycle of violence.
Join us in Apopka on Tuesday, February 9, 2016, and be part of the solution. For more information, please call Fruit of Glory Ministries, Inc. at 813 642-7224, email at fruitofgloryinc@yahoo.com, and check out our website at www.ctgforanewgeneration.com.
