Take a walk, support Rwanda

PEACE Lutheran Church invites everyone to enjoy local trails on Saturday, Sept. 16 - and support community-building in the African nation of Rwanda.

PEACE Lutheran Church invites everyone to enjoy local trails on Saturday, Sept. 16 – and support community-building in the African nation of Rwanda.

Local trails and community services in Rwanda come together at 9 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 16, in a fundraiser hosted by PEACE Lutheran Church in Grass Valley.

Church members will walk three local trails that day – and they’ll be asking friends and neighbors to sponsor them. They hope to raise $1,000 to support grass-roots efforts in Rwandan villages that improve the lives of ordinary people, says Jim Line of Peace’s Rwanda Connection Committee.

All are welcome to join the walkers at 9 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 16, at PEACE — look for us in the parking lot at 828 W. Main St. (near downtown Grass Valley). We’ll start with for a short rally, then carpool to the three nearby trailheads and walk until 12 p.m. The Hirschman Trail in Nevada City, the Litton Trail in Grass Valley and the Alan Thiesen Trail in Alta Sierra are fairly short and level, Line says.

Pick any one of the trails to walk – or walk all three if you like! These three trails were chosen for their ease of access and walking, Line says. (Pastor Eileen and Brian will be walking all three, if you would like to accompany them!)

The Bear Yuba Land Trust offers information about these and more local by-ways at their trail portal.

Funds raised in the “Walk for Rwanda” will support the work of the Rev. John Rutsindintwarane. “Pastor John” helped restart the Lutheran Church in Rwanda after the 1994 genocide. Since then, he has helped ordinary people there build schools, health clinics and a women’s cooperative making roofing tile.

Event organizers Jim Line and Barbara Gable are passionate about supporting Pastor John’s work in Africa – and about walking and hiking in western Nevada County. “We want to promote local trails and encourage people to walk and invite others to join them,” Line said.

Donations supporting Pastor John’s work may be sent to Peace Lutheran Church, 828 W. Main St., Grass Valley, CA 95945; please write “Walk for Rwanda” in the memo line.

Learn more about Rwanda

PEACE has a big heart – and a big connection to the central African nation of Rwanda! A former member helped encourage Pastor John Rutsindintwarane to return to Rwanda from a refugee camp in Tanzania.

Pastor John has visited PEACE several times, as we supported him through master’s degree programs and other studies. Rwandan Bishop Mugabo also has visited PEACE.

Our Rwanda Connection Committee works hard to support a Lutheran high school in Rwanda.

Learn more about PEACE Lutheran Church.