By Harold Reutter
harold.reutter@theindependent.com

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Independent/Barrett Stinson To help promote the upcoming Unity Walk, Caitlin Strong, 5, and Hayley Larson, 7, (right in pink jacket) hold hands while leading more than 100 people toward a video camera at Suckıs Lake on Wednesday in Grand Island. Independent/Barrett Stinson Ann Sukraw-Lutz, a Multicultural Coalition board member who works for Nebraska Legal Services, handles the directorial duties Wednesday during filming of a Unity Walk promotional video. Independent/Barrett Stinson Grand Island Fire Departmentıs ladder truck 2 makes one big boom, allowing GITV videographer Jeremy Watson to pull back and gain altitude while filming a Unity Walk promotional video at Suckıs Lake on Wednesday in Grand Island. Click Thumbnails to View

Paul Briseno, assistant city administrator and president of the Multicultural Coalition board, hopes thousands of people will participate on June 28 in the Unity Walk, which is being held in conjunction with the Ethnic Festival.

"We'll walk 13 blocks and end at the grandstand for the Ethnic Festival," Briseno said.

If thousands of people do participate, it will help demonstrate the walk's theme, "A Community of One," and also will boost attendance at the Ethnic Festival.

"It will be a win-win situation," Briseno said.

He noted Grand Island is a very diverse community and that fact should be celebrated. He said the "Community of One" theme does not imply that everybody is the same.

But Grand Island is a community, even with all its diversity, "culturally, in religion and even our politics," Briseno said.

At the conclusion of the Unity Walk, Mayor Margaret Hornady, Grand Island Superintendent Steve Joel and other dignitaries will make remarks, he said. The Unity Walk hopes to attract state officials as well.

Briseno said organizers hope that Unity Walk participants will stay to enjoy the Ethnic Festival's entertainment, food and other attractions.

He said Wednesday's mini-walk near Suck's Lake will be used to make a public service announcement for airing on GITV. Briseno said he hopes that the PSA also will be used by the local ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox affiliates.

"We'll also digitize it and put it on the Web," he said.

The public service announcement features students from Senior High, including a number of young people who are members of Senior High's Multicultural Club and were recruited for the project.

Numerous students from Barr Middle School also participated, as did members of the Multicultural Coalition board, the Grand Island Fire Department, Grand Island Police Department and people from the community at large.

One of the walkers for the PSA was former Mayor Ken Gnadt, who pushed for the creation of the Multicultural Coalition during his time in office.

Leading the way, though, was Gates Elementary first-grader Hayley Larson, who began walking toward the camera that filmed the PSA and then was quickly joined by Seedling Mile kindergartner Caitlin Strong, who came in from the side and clasped Hayley's hand.

Everybody else flowed in from the left and right sides of the young girls.

Directing the action was Ann Sukraw-Lutz, a Multicultural Coalition board member who works for Nebraska Legal Services. She also is a former owner of the old Piccadilly Dinner Theatre, which provided her with previous directing experience. She had never directed for television, though.

Sukraw-Lutz literally gave people their marching orders on Wednesday afternoon, telling everybody precisely how they should merge from each side and walk while looking straight into the camera.

She did it with all the directness of a drill sergeant.

After a couple of practices, Sukraw-Lutz had all the walkers raise a single index finger into the air to illustrate the theme, "A Community of One."

Just before actual filming, Sukraw-Lutz gave her "actors" the motivation for their scene. She noted that Grand Island is a unique community because of its diversity.

She pointed out that this town in the middle of America has people not only from Central America, but South America, as well as Vietnam and at least two countries in East Africa. Sukraw-Lutz said that should make all the people who participated in the filming very proud.

Then, realizing that most walkers were students, she asked them to pretend it was Friday and they could smile because there was no school on the next day.

That was no stretch, because GIPS students do have this Thursday and Friday off from classes.

June 28 Unity Walk

Registration: Starts at 8 a.m. at the Department of Health and Human Services, 208 N. Pine. The entry fee is $10 and includes a Unity Walk T-shirt.

Unity Teams: Businesses, service groups and community organizations are encouraged to participate in the walk as teams. Teams and individuals can register in advance by calling Paul Briseno at 385-5444, ext. 140.

Honorary Walk Leader: Ken Gnadt, a former mayor of Grand Island and the organizer of the Multicultural Coalition, will lead the walk.

Sponsorship: Wells Fargo Bank is the presenting sponsor of the Unity Walk. Other businesses may become Unity Walk supporters by contacting Paul Briseno at 385-5444, ext. 140.

More information: Is available from Bill Brennan at 398-5422 or bbrennan@sfmc-gi.org, or Paul Briseno at 385-5444, ext. 140 or paulb@grand-island.com, or the Unity Walk Web site at www.grandislandmulticulturalcoalition.com.

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