On the Savannah Story: Baha’is at the nexus of three neighborhoods
By george wesley dannells on Jul 3, 2008 in Baha'i Views
The story of the growth of the Faith in Savannah has caught the attention of the national Baha’i community but also the local newspaper. -gw
Some of the first Savannah Baha’is in the early 1960s met quietly in each other’s homes for prayers, study and discussion typically on holy days and the feast day, the first day of the Baha’i month.
In the mid-1990s, the Savannah group began hosting an annual “Race Unity Picnic,” at Daffin Park that has attracted more than 1,000 visitors at times, but has almost never attracted new members.
In an effort to improve their community outreach, the members purchased in 2001 a 3,000-square-foot storefront building … To the east is low-income, predominately black Live Oak. To the west is middle-class, racially mixed Baldwin Park, and to the south is upper-middle-class, mostly white Ardsley Park and Parkside.
“What we found in the building there was a wonderful, integrated community,” Barbara Rudolph said. “We wanted to become - over a period of time - part of the neighborhood.”
The center began hosting block parties, movie nights and after-school programs. By 2007, members counted an average 30 or so regular after-school visitors.
However, leaders didn’t know the children’s parents. So they decided to go door-to-door throughout the neighborhood and introduce themselves. …
Since November, membership in the local Baha’i group has doubled, growing from about 75 members in 2007 to about 150 today. …
The growth has attracted national attention from Baha’is. Recently, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the U.S. produced a video about the Savannah group on Bahailife.org.
Photo: “Live Oak trees along Bay St, Savannah,” Uploaded on May 29, 2007 by TrishN on flickr, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic
