Jill Ritchie, a member of the Peaceful Communities steering group, made the commitment yesterday with the goal of building safer streets and better rapport with people in her community.

The Peterborough Peace Builder Campaign, to be launched during October’s Month Without Violence, calls on residents to make a promise of action to reduce violence and build a better community. The commitment doesn’t have to be massive; it could be as simple as mowing the lawn for an elderly neighbour or giving a single mom a break for a few hours.

The Peaceful Communities steering group intends to build social capital through the exercise and create an inventory of the positive things happening in the Peterborough area.

Jill’s promise to create a walking school bus was derived from her involvement in the Active and Safe Routes to School program, an initiative of the Peterborough County-City Health Unit, and the fact she walks her daughter to school daily. A walking school bus involves parents alternating turns and walking a large group of children to school instead of parents and children completing the trip independently. Not only does it ease the stress of morning routines, it encourages interaction between parents and children who share the same street name, says Jill.

“My peace builder promise is to start a walking school bus to my daughter’s school so more of us are able to walk our kids to school,” says Jill.

“To me, the action promise is instead of doing it for yourself to reach out to other people. I think of it as peace building because it’s supporting our neighbours and reaching out.”

Jill’s promise will involve co-ordinating schedules with other parents so they can make the school bus jive. “For all parents with a young child, it’s always a juggling act.”

Jill, the mother of a five-year-old, says more parents on the streets and school property contributes to safer playgrounds. The walk pooling also keeps streets safer and cleaner because of the fewer vehicles on the road, Jill adds. More children walking and biking to school reduces the number of pedestrians and cyclists injured by vehicles because they have more of a presence, she notes.

Jill also says the walking school bus means more adult eyes on the street. “Walking to school is peace building because it reduces bullying and negative interactions between kids.”

She plans to have the program started in her north-end neighbourhood by the beginning of November.

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