CHARLOTTE — A church in northwest Charlotte is working to give neighborhood kids a safe place to find community after a teen was shot and killed across the street in July.
Church leaders at Will of God Outreach Ministries say the goal is to prevent other tragedies.
Octavia Fluitt, a youth minister, said the church opens its doors to support not only teens but the entire family.
“If you’re needing clothes, we clothe you, if you’re needing food, we have food here,” she said. “If you are needing prayer, we will pray for you.”
The church sits directly across from the Lewiston Avenue home that police say was targeted in a retaliatory shooting on July 14. Investigators say 14-year-old Kamarhy Sanders-Livingston was rising with the group that opened fire and was accidentally shot. Three teens are now charged in his murder.
“It was traumatic,” Josiah Brown, a teen mentor, said. “The fact that his life was taken here or across the street from here, it was sad.”
Through a free summer camp, Youth Sundays and a weekly food pantry, the church is working to combat teen violence and create room for honest conversations.
“Letting the youth know that there is more to life than guns or thinking that you have to carry a gun to have friends or being around people that are doing bad things,” Fluitt said.
The church’s commitment to the community is going strong.
“It’s an everyday thing because those are our hearts,” Fluitt said. “Those are our future.”
The church says the larger effort continues, making sure young people have someone to turn to before heading down the wrong path.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department is also pushing for an earlier curfew as another way to reduce youth crime. The proposal would require everyone under 18 to be inside by 9 p.m. City council is expected to vote on it next week.
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