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Sunday, September 22, 2002
theeagle.com Craig Kapitan's e-mail address is ckapitan@theeagle.com |
Evangelist steps out for ministry Eagle Staff Writer As cars whizzed along a Texas 6 off-ramp Saturday morning, some drivers honked and a few slowed down. J.J. Ramirez just smiled and kept on walking. The local evangelist wasn't hitching a ride. If that were the case, he could have jumped into one of the two old, graffiti-covered school buses crowded with about 50 children and volunteers waiting to follow him. Between now and Thursday, Ramirez will be walking five miles a day - eventually carving a 30-mile path around Bryan and College Station - to draw publicity for Save Our Streets Ministries and the fund raisers it will have this week.
A former drug dealer and addict himself, Ramirez formed the Bryan-based ministry in 1993. "A lot of these children are at that age where they could go either way at any moment," Ramirez said. "We go rescue them. We're a gang, but we're a positive gang." The 30-mile walk will end Thursday and will be followed by a sold-out banquet to raise money for the group. Next Saturday, the group will have a fund-raising event called Walk a Mile in His Steps. The ministry is asking the community to form teams to walk a one-mile segment of the route Ramirez walked. Each participant is asked to raise $175. "We feel strongly that J.J. does a great job with the ministry, but he needed help with fund raising," explained Save Our Streets board member Clare Rugh as she followed Ramirez along a grass embankment. Rugh helped organize the weeklong events, which are the first-ever fund-raisers for the group. "This guy has struggled for nine years," she said, "We'd get a phone call every Friday: 'Guys pray, we can't pay the bills.'" The fund-raiser has been a success so far, she said, and will most likely become an annual event. Save Our Streets Ministries can be reached at 775-5357. |
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Save Our Streets Ministries P.O. Box 2866 Bryan, TX 77805 (979) 775-5357 E-mail: sosministries |
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"I hope this attracts attention not only to us but to the solution," Ramirez said of his ministry's goal to save children from gangs and drugs. "It's going to take all of us to save our community."