If you go:
• The Alicia Titus Memorial Peace Walk will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 10. The event will start and end at the Urbana University Student Center. The event will include food, live music, peace-building activities for children and more.
• Urbana University will host a Community Day of Remembrance at 3 p.m. Sunday. Activities will include a brief talk by John and Beverly Titus. as well as a keynote address from Marianne Williamson. Williamson is a lecturer and New York Times Best-Selling author. It will also include a performance from the World House Choir. For more information, residents can call 937-772-9246 or email tammy.leiker@urbana.edu.
A Champaign County family will honor their daughter’s memory Sunday with events designed to promote peace on the 15th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center.
John and Beverly Titus started the Alicia Titus Peace Fund in 2002, and ever since have worked to promote events to benefit local community members and encourage discussions about peace. Their daughter, Alicia Titus, was a flight attendant on United Airlines Flight 175 when it crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
“We were trying to find ways to change the culture we’re living in and stop the cycle of violence which led to Alicia’s death,” Beverly Titus said. “What we wanted was to provide programs and events that would help educate university students as well as community members about what a culture of peace means and what it will look like.”
The program has provided numerous events in previous years, including sponsoring a day of service in which students and community members were encouraged to volunteer and learn how to give back to their community. This year, events include a 5K walk and run, as well as a keynote address by Marianne Williamson, an author and founder of the Peace Alliance. That group is a nonprofit dedicated to promoting a culture of peace.
Since its inception, the Alicia Titus Fund has raised more than $70,000 to promote issues like social justice and community volunteerism. It has also provided scholarships for Urbana University students committed to similar ideals.
“Alicia loved traveling and learning about people and cultures,” Beverly Titus said. “Through her fund, we also try to provide programs that educate people about all religions and things that are supposed to join us together as a human race rather than divide us.”
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