The First Saturday in August brought the Hydrate the Hood event to Meadow Creek Park in the Dallas area. This family, fun event is led by Katrina Chaney of The Dro Guapo Project and is designed to connect with the community and raise awareness of the impact of gun violence on communities.
During the event, members of The Dro Guapo Project distributed cases of water and juice to the community and also invited them to sit and listen to music, enjoy lite refreshments and engage in conversation.
“We want to hydrate the community not only with water and juice but also with knowledge of the impacts of gun violence, ” said Chaney as she sits at a table covered with pictures and artifacts of her son, Rajai Robinson as known as Dro Guapo. “People need to understand what happens when a bullet leaves a gun. You can not put the bullet back in a gun once it is out. It has to go somewhere. It comes down somewhere.”
Chaney founded non-profit The Dro Guapo Project after the passing of her son last year due to gun violence at age 27.
In addition to community awareness events like Hydrate the Hood, this organization aims to obtain a facility to offer youth access to positive programming to develop other interests like poetry, art, dance and music. Currently, Chaney and her team also provides meals to a community of senior citizens in South Dallas.
Champ Davis of Big Ball Entertainment who knew Dro Guapo, the non-profit namesake, performed an original song Hit Me Up that spoke to his experience. Davis spoke to this success and down the earth character.
“We want to make a positive out of a negative situation and bring the attention to stopping gun violence. We have to start somewhere and it has to be with our community and then spread out like this COVID-19,” said Davis. “It has to stop people are taking loved ones. It is nonsense.”
In the year of 2020, 43,578 people in the United States died from gun violence with 19,422 being homicides. From January 2021 to August 2021, 28,047 deaths have been recorded .
The group seeks to provide distributed cases of water, barbeque, and juice to youth and families during the hot summer months and also shares information about the impact of gun violence in communities.
For more information about the Dro Guapo Project, visit the facebook page..
