Not in Our Town is pleased to announce our newest video, Sending Symbols of Peace to Oak Creek, WI. This clip is a supplemental piece to our documentary film, Waking in Oak Creek. Check out our other web extras [1] for Waking in Oak Creek to share with your community group or classroom.
An incredible piece of mail surprised Oak Creek Mayor Steve Scaffidi in the fall of 2012: a box of one thousand miniature paper cranes in assorted colors. They were sent from Norwood Junior High School as a show of support and compassion for the victims and town of Oak Creek, WI after the town was rocked by a shooting at the Oak Creek Sikh Temple.
"When I opened the box, literally a thousand of these cranes jumped out of it, and each one of these was a student that wanted to send a symbol of peace," said Mayor Scaffidi.
The class at Norwood Junior High School in Sacramento, CA was inspired to take on the massive task of folding one thousand individual cranes after reading the book Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. That story chronicles the account of a girl in Japan who folded hundreds and hundreds of cranes in the hope of being healed from leukemia, which she contracted after the bombing of Hiroshima in World War II.
"They represent peace… we wanted to do something so we could help out," said Gissel, a student at Norwood Junior High School. The cranes carried this message of peace over 2,000 miles from California to the doorstep of Mayor Scaffidi, who was touched by such a large gesture made by a school so far away.
"I was so impressed," said Mayor Scaffidi. "It's a little gesture that someone else made that impacted me." Mayor Scaffidi distributed the cranes to citizens of Oak Creek at various community events, ensuring that this message of peace and positivity would reach and help heal those affected by the shooting.
"I hope it sends [the message] that people are always going to be out there to help in a way," said Gissel. "You won't ever be alone."
Bring Waking in Oak Creek to your town or school. Click here to request the DVD and get a discussion guide and lesson plan to pair with your screening [2].