Unity in Community parade leader offered prayers for Youngstown today

YOUNGSTOWN

With a mighty blast on a horn, Wendy Robinson raised her hand toward heaven, let out a victory shout, took a step forward, and started to pray.

She kept on praying for a mile-and-a-half.

It was part of the 13th annual Unity In the Community Parade and Community Day Celebration, sponsored by Warriors Inc., a Christ-led, community-based organization that seeks to develop youth through a variety of social and economic programs.

Today's parade started at the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County’s Newport branch on Market Street, and proceeded north about 1.5 miles to the former South High School, where the Community Day activities took place on the football field.

Robinson led the parade, and the horn she blew to kick it off was literally a horn. Known as a shofar, it was a hollowed-out antelope horn, which Robinson said she obtained during a recent trip to Israel. A shofar is usually made from a ram’s horn and is used for Jewish religious purposes.

“It represents the voice of God,” Robinson said of the shofar. “It’s a sound that brings people together, and what better day to sound it than today? It’s a sound of jubilee, and according to the Hebrew calendar, we are in the year of the jubilee.”

As she walked the parade route, Robinson said she continually prayed for peace and prosperity to come to Youngstown, all the while hoisting the shofar above her head.

Read more about the event in Sunday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.