Residents of Greenbelt East, Greenbelt Center and Greenbelt West united as one on a sunny Sunday afternoon for the city’s third Help Unite Greenbelt (HUG) Walk hosted by Random Unselfish Acts of Kindness (RUAK).
The HUG Walk was inspired by unity walks and concern over the divisiveness RUAK founder Robert Goldberg-Strassler witnessed while he was handing out kindness bags at six different sites in Greenbelt during National Night Out in August 2018. Goldberg-Strassler said he is attempting “to make Greenbelt more of a one-city home.”
Laura Bonkosky, a Greenbelt yoga instructor and yoga therapist, came out to support Goldberg-Strassler’s efforts to unite the three parts of the city. “When somebody does something that’s pro-social, that’s beneficial to the community, it’s inspiring. It makes me want to do it, too,” said Bonkosky, who is a volunteer at the Greenbelt News Review.
According to Goldberg-Strassler the HUG walk has grown from around 20 sponsors in its first year, 2019, to over 65 social, civic and religious sponsors, despite not being able to operate in 2020 due to Covid. The sponsors “spread the word and turn out,” said Goldberg-Strassler, noting there are no financial contributions.
The walk started at the Indian Creek Trail near Beltway Plaza at 1:30 p.m. on October 9. It featured five additional locations every 30 minutes for new participants to join the crowd, before finishing at Schrom Hills Park.
Marti Galvin, who is the secretary of the Senior Citizens Advisory Committee, said Goldberg-Strassler is always promoting activities that combine the various areas of Greenbelt, something she strongly supports. “I’m always excited about the idea of seeing people I know who are seeing [these efforts] and supporting the same things that I am,” said Galvin, who is a 30-year resident of Greenbelt.
Goldberg-Strassler said the HUG Walk also allows new residents of Greenbelt and first-time participants to see the many treasures and gems of Greenbelt during the walk. They will be able to learn that Greenbelt has things they didn’t know existed, he said. For example, the residents in the new Motiva apartments will learn of Buddy Attick Park or Schrom Hills.
One resident in particular, Lauren Cato, who is a member of the Greenbelt Black History and Culture Committee, said she was invited to come out to the event for the first time and learned a lot from the experience. “There are so many people that I don’t know. Yes, I’m involved in a lot of community events but you still get to meet new people and learn [about] things that are going on in Greenbelt,” said Cato, who is a 17-year resident of Greenbelt.
One aspect of the HUG Walk that was new last year but did not occur this year was plogging, which is jogging or walking while picking up litter. Goldberg-Strassler said he was not able to find a plogger-in-chief to lead the initiative.
Despite plogging not occurring this year, Goldberg-Strassler noted the impact it has had in the community. “There are more people [plogging] than when I started cleaning up the streets – it was just me and maybe two other people – it’s now in double digits,” he said. “More people are interested in helping people all over.”
Bonkosky said she is a big fan of Goldberg-Strassler’s work. “He cares about the community, he cares about the people who live here, he cares about keeping Greenbelt a [great] place to live.”
Sununu Bah is a University of Maryland graduate student in journalism writing for the Greenbelt News Review.