A festive two-part event is coming back to the CSRA, this month, in the name of unifying the community.
“People helping people” is the slogan of Umoja Village, the Aiken advocacy nonprofit that specializes in forging connections among, and garnering support for, marginalized populations. On Oct 17 and 18, the organization is hosting its third annual Unity Weekend, a two-day fundraiser comprised of a golf tournament and a gospel music festival, coordinated to foster and celebrate local collaborations.
The Unity Golf Tournament, which will also be in its third consecutive year, invites enthusiasts of the sport to the Cedar Creek Golf Club to participate in an 18-hole captain’s choice scramble, complete with a silent auction, a 50/50 raffle and even a $10,000 hole-in-one contest.
The tournament aims to raise $25,000 toward Umoja Village’s Rebuilding the Foundation Crime Prevention Plan, a years-long initiative to reduce local crime via collaborations between youth mentorship, job training and second chance programs and law enforcement.
“It is marketed to the entire community, because you have so many individuals, male, female, all ethnicities, who love the game of golf,” said Donna Moore Wesby, CEO and co-founder of Umoja Village. “So golf has the ability to unite people, to allow business discussions, you know, to be had that end up bringing about partnerships.”
Shoutfest Unityfest, on Oct. 18 at the Beverly D. Clyburn Generations Park, is boasted as the largest free, outdoor gospel concert in the CSRA, invites 19 gospel artists, including Wess Morgan and Monica Lisa Stevenson, for a day-long show.
Shoutfest has already been a staple in Aiken for some 16 years, originally hosted by gospel station WAAW before it was bought out in 2023, after which Umoja Village took it over. While the show is free, attendees are encouraged to bring money to support the many vendors who will be there.
“Many people are connected through faith,” Wesby said. “You know, belief in God, a belief in a higher power, that drives us to want to do good things and to be about righteousness. So the entire weekend focuses on fellowship and fun and food and just helping to uplift our entire community.”
Umoja Village, which gets its name from the Swahili word for “unity,” started Juneteenth (June 19) of 2020 as a resource management organization, helping underserved and underrepresented populations connect with various resources.
“In actuality, it ends up being not just those populations, but anyone who needs connection to resources, whether it’s housing, health care, education, finance and banking, entrepreneurship, personal development,” said Wesby, noting instances where clients have included school districts and even the Aiken Community Playhouse. “We utilize the relationships that we built by being in this community almost 50 years in order to connect people to the services they need.”
Visit the Umoja Village website for more information.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering general reporting for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com
