MUSKEGON, Mich. — A Muskegon boxing club is organizing a community walk Saturday to take a stand against gun violence, and its head coach says the recent post-prom party shooting at the VFW in Fruitport helped push the event into motion.
WATCH: 'Put down the guns, pick up a mentor': Boxing club to host anti-gun violence walk in Muskegon this weekend
TCB Boxing operates out of Temple United Methodist Church and is open to anyone ages 10 and up, Monday through Friday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
"TCB boxing is taking back the community one step, one punch at a time," said Head Boxing Coach Ramon Avery.
Avery started boxing at just 13 years old. Now in his 50s, he coaches the club and says the sport gave him a path away from trouble — and he wants to offer that same path to others.
"It gives you something to go for, you know, and to keep you out the way of trouble," Avery said. "I could have been dead or gone, and it saved me, so it's my turn to save them, or do the best I can."
The walk is set for Saturday at 11 a.m. Participants will start at Getty Street and Apple Avenue and move through several neighborhoods before finishing at Rowan City Park.
"We are walking for gun violence, to put down the guns, pick up a mentor," Avery said. "We're starting from Getty Street and Apple, and we walk the whole way through the projects, and we walk in to Sherman and Hoyt Street, and then we walk into Rowan Park. So we're trying to cover all the bad parts we can cover, just let them know we're here, we love you, and we're trying to give back to you."
Avery said the walk was largely prompted by a post-prom party shooting at the VFW in Fruitport.
"We've been saying we was going to do it, but that put it right in motion. We said, hey, no more talking, let's go and grab the bull by the horns," Avery said.
Avery is calling on the entire community to show up Saturday and stand together.
"We all need to come together and fight the gun violence together," Avery said. "It is going to be more effective when it's more people out there showing that we care."
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