After they faced a devastating loss, local entrepreneur Mindy Corporon and her family decided to do something positive: They created SevenDays: Make a Ripple, Change the World, a weeklong celebration of kindness and interfaith respect.
The first SevenDays, held this past spring, was dedicated to those lost in the April 2014 attack at the Jewish Community Campus and Village Shalom: Corporon’s son, Reat Griffin Underwood; her father, Dr. William Corporon; and occupational therapist Terri LaManno.
Putting together the first SevenDays, just one year after the shootings, was like “walking through molasses,” said Mindy Corporon, the co-founder and CEO of Boyer & Corporon Wealth Management. But the slate of events—which included an interfaith panel, a talk featuring human rights activist and genocide survivor Jacqueline Murekatete and a community peace walk—generated a huge community response.
The walk coincided with the first anniversary of the shootings. Corporon can remember checking her watch at different points during the day and reminding herself where she was a year earlier.
“It was so powerful to be processing and going through that day one year later,” she said.
SevenDays 2016
Planning is already underway for the next SevenDays, to be held April 12-18, 2016. Next year’s celebration will include Faith, Love & Song, a songwriting competition for those ages 14 to 21. The submission deadline is Jan. 31, and the top three finishers will be invited to perform at an April 18 celebration.
And in February, organizers will start signing up volunteers to help with this spring’s SevenDays events.
Corporon and the other organizers are working hard to improve the celebration and extend its reach. That’s why SevenDays has a youth advisory board featuring young people from different cultural and religious backgrounds and neighborhoods across the metro.
While SevenDays was inspired by the people lost in 2014, Corporon wants the week to support anyone in the community who might be dealing with losses of their own. “I want SevenDays to help other people to heal from their tragedies,” she said.
