The Facing Project is an organization that inspires action through the use of storytelling. With over 1500 stories produced already, the Facing Project is coming to Dayton!
Gun violence is a topic close to home for Dayton. Many people in the community have been impacted by gun violence or know someone who has and this fact became more widespread after the Oregon District tragedy on Aug. 4, 2019.
The way the Facing Project works is that storytellers impacted by gun violence will be paired up with writers that will help the storytellers put their experiences into narrative form. Artists of all kinds are welcome to get involved in the process as well in order to create art inspired by the stories.
As stated by Dr. Kathy Rowell on the Dayton Peace Museum website, “the goal of this project is to promote collective healing by deeply listening to the stories of gun violence in our community.” Perhaps hearing how gun violence personally affects people will carry more weight than statistics. Getting a whole community involved in the healing process, whether each individual is personally impacted or not, can allow for a stronger drive for action.
Stories collected from this project will be put into a book that will be available on Amazon and possibly broadcasted on the Facing Project’s NPR show. There is due to be a community event on the one year anniversary of the Oregon District tragedy where stories from the book are read, monologues are performed, and art is displayed.
All volunteers for storytellers, writers, and artists are hoped to be recruited by March 15. All volunteers will go through a training session either in person or through videos to ensure that a topic of such weight is handled properly and respectfully to those going through the healing process.
Not only is the Facing Project in need of volunteers, but there is still a need for donations in order to help fund the project. With 50% of funds being raised by the Dayton Peace Museum, they are still in need of more. For those interested in donating, visit the website gunviolence.facingproject.com and look in the top right corner for the “DONATE” tab.
In order to find information on volunteering for the project, visit the website gunviolence.facingproject.com and look at the top of the page for the “VOLUNTEER” tab. Under that tab is more information concerning the responsibilities for each type of volunteer as well as guidelines/tips for those involved. That page is also where one will find the online sign up sheet to become a volunteer.
The website is organized in a way that makes it easily navigable and if anyone is interested in the project, taking a look around the website will help solidify some questions that one may have. There is also a timeline concerning when stories are due and things of that matter. After viewing the website, if anyone has remaining questions, feel free to email katherine.rowell@sinclair.edu or call her at 937-512-3203.
Hannah Shafer
Reporter