Block party to celebrate new SNAP headquarters

Cape Girardeau�s Stop Needless Acts of Violence Please organization will host a block party next week to celebrate the acquisition of its new headquarters.

Felice Patton, founder of SNAP, said the event, from 2 to 5 p.m. July 14 at 402 S. Sprigg St., is an effort to �fellowship with the community� at the new location.

It�s a small beginning, she said, with it being an office building, but she wants SNAP to �be that bright light� in Cape Girardeau.

�We want to have fun and have everybody come out to socialize, for some food, drinks and games for the kids and to have a good time,� she said. �It�s all about community.�

Patton said the organization works in conjunction with Community Counseling Center and offers a resource center to address mental health issues and needs within Southeast Missouri.

The Rev. Byron Bonner leads a prayer July 30, 2016, at Indian Park before the Stop Needless Acts of Violence Please (SNAP) prayer march in Cape Girardeau.Fred Lynch

SNAP brings �unity in the community,� she said, by bridging gaps within different cultures and experiences, she explained.

�For the future, we want to be involved in cultural arts, learning and literacy,� Patton said. �Right there in the community, we want to be visible. We want to be consistent and accessible to the community.�

Patton originally founded SNAP when her son died in 2015 due to an act of violence, which led to the determination to �bring awareness to the community.�

�When he was killed, nobody would really talk. That is how we began to help others,� she said.

Patton said during her �quest� that led to founding the organization, she discovered similar situations within the community, which resulted in an extra push for Patton to show others, including law enforcement, how to communicate and help each other.

When SNAP came along, she said it �became a line of communication to be a voice to the community that its OK to talk to police.�

�We still bring police in for our meetings; we let them talk and the people get to see them,� Patton said.

She said local law enforcement recently started having a �neighborhood roll call,� where residents in a neighborhood would come outside to meet with police officers.

�Like a �day in the life of police,� talking about what they did that day,� Patton said.

An anonymous tip line was also implemented, Patton said, to help communicate with people in the community who were �afraid� to contribute news any other way.

�Police say they spend 30 minutes of a day now with those tips, and we are proud of that,� Patton said. �A lot of the shootings and murders since then have been solved. So we�re really, really happy with that change.�

Patton said SNAP�s focus is changing the way of thinking, �in a community that�s afraid.�

SNAP has hosted monthly meetings for the last three years on the fourth Tuesday of every month at the local Salvation Army since the tragedy in her family, Patton said.

�But now that I have this building that we�re opening up, they will start at SNAP headquarters, on the fourth Tuesday of every month,� she said.

Since the death of her son, Patton said the organization has been coming together and �praying weekly� on the streets in neighborhoods where assaults and shootings happened, or where �anything that we know people were hurt.�

That is its mission, and Patton said it strives to have a respectful, safe and united community.

�SNAP wants the unity and a safe place to live for our children. You have to protect your children at all costs,� Patton said. �We want to be a voice for those children who have witnessed so much in the streets of Cape Girardeau.�

jhartwig@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3632