The Only Way Through is Together.

December 20th marks one year since our apartment fire. It feels like a lifetime ago and yesterday all at once. 2024 has forced me to heal in many ways. Truthfully, while I've worked so hard to be grateful and positive, numbness and anger have been my main emotions. I've prioritized taking care of everyone else and put off taking care of my emotional well being. Upon my mother's recommendation, I listed to all of Anderson Cooper's "All There Is," which is all about the loss of loved ones, but it certainly helped me process a lot of emotions that I buried for most of the year. 

The one blessing of 2024 for me is community. I have undoubtedly rooted even deeper within my Sunnyside community and also my circle of loved ones - that's the only way through this life, through the good and the bad, together. On one of the episodes in Anderson's podcast is with a woman by the name of Mama Shu. She suffered unspeakable tragedy with the murder of her two sons years apart and rather than run and hide, she rooted deeper in her community. Her healing was by seeing a better community, a better life for all those who live in the same area as her. With our political climate so polarized, so angry, so defensive, so dividing, may we learn from Mama Shu that the only way through is together, focusing on community over self, making things brighter and better for those who live next door to us, no matter their race, gender, age, birth country, sexual orientation. 

Wishing you and yours a happy, healthy, loving, community-filled holiday season. ​

Sign Up For Pilates On Demand

---

This month, 20% of our proceeds will go to The Avalon Village.
​
Avalon Village's Mission is to create a safe, nurturing, uplifting, and healing space within the City of Highland Park MI. We're doing this by converting vacant and blighted land into a valuable urban resource and providing basic living components for a quality, comfortable, and prosperous life. In addition, we provide basic services to the community to enhance traditional municipal or government services that have been reduced, eliminated or have become unaffordable.


2023 CNN Hero Top 10 finalist Shamayim ‘Mama Shu’ Harris is the founder and CEO of Avalon Village in Highland Park, MI. She is a mother, a community activist, and a former school administrator, who served Detroit schools for 27+ years. Her dream of building this urban oasis was manifested after the tragic loss of her son, Jakobi RA, who was killed by a hit-and-run driver in 2007 at the age of two.


In 2021, the unthinkable happened. She lost another child when her 23-year-old son Chinyelu was murdered on January 26.


Rather than fall into despair, Shu chose to heal and honor the memory of her sons by transforming "Blight to Beauty"™ and creating something wonderful for the people of Highland Park. She assembled a team of engineers, futurists, artists, urban farmers, volunteers, and donors from around the world who are helping to build Avalon Village, a sustainable eco-village on Avalon Street between Woodward Avenue and Second. The village currently owns 40+ parcels of land and 5 houses with plans to acquire more property as the organization grows.


These vacant, blighted lots and structures are being brought back to life as the Homework House (an after-school learning and activity center for neighborhood children), the Goddess Marketplace (an economic development initiative for women entrepreneurs), the Healing House (a center for holistic healing), a healthy cafe, activity courts, greenhouses, a micro-library and more.


This unique community-building project has received local, national, and international media attention on The Ellen Show, NBC Nightly News, CBS Evening News, the Today Show, People Magazine, The New York Times, Huffington Post, Fast Company, and many other publications in Detroit and beyond. Comedian and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres even gifted Mama Shu with a prefabricated house which now serves as The Village Hall, the headquarters of Avalon Village.


Shu served as the first female chaplain with the Highland Park Police Department. She was the chairwoman of the Highland Park Charter Commission, charged with helping shape the city’s future. In addition, she served as Vice President of the Highland Park Housing Commission, president of the Highland Park Board of Education, and as an appointed member of The Michigan Commission on Community Action and Economic Opportunity, appointed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer. She has received the Let Freedom Ring Award and numerous other local and national awards for her work.


Shu has dedicated her life to serving the people (especially children and elders) in her community, demonstrating that one person truly can make a difference, even against seemingly impossible odds, and inspiring others to live without fear and follow their dreams.

Learn more at theavalonvillage.org.

---

Sign Up for Pilates On Demand