The park, a place for hanging out and relaxing, can now be a stage to speak out and stand for one’s own truth, as well as re-establish community ties, according to one advocacy group.
Gunn went to an anti-lockdown and vaccine mandate protest in the Olympic Park in Sydney and was shocked by the whole scenario.
A Support Network Was Born
Gunn saw that as a missed opportunity.“We'd be great resources for each other,” he said.
“It’s more about getting together, chatting online, meeting in person, being a support network through each other, having a physical energy exchange, getting a hug, and I’m feeling so alone… If anything happened, we could meet in the park.”
So he created A Stand in the Park, an advocacy group that unites people in parks all over the world every Sunday morning, 10-11 am local time and allows them to celebrate freedom, diversity, and fairness.
But Gunn notes that starting the group was down to strength and determination, with him facing three months of going to the park by himself every Sunday before the idea took off.
“I announced it every night… Nobody came. Next week, the same thing...” Gunn said. “And then finally two people came, and then another person came, and then another few people came.”
“There was no organizer. It was just every Sunday because we weren’t going to protest about really anything as such… We would all stand together for our cause no matter what, under one umbrella, which is wearing yellow… So that’s how it was born,” he said.
An Energetic Point For Truth
Asked if he is trying to convey a message to the government or the public, Gunn said it’s more about helping people make connections amid the harsh COVID-19 policies and “drawing your own line in the sand.”“I disagree with what’s happening in the world right now, and I see through it, so I’m going to use my body, and I’m going to stand in that park as an energetic pinpoint,” he said. “I’m going to show people and myself and the government that I don’t agree.”
“We’ve all got different pasts, spiritualities, experiences, relationships, and religions, and we’re all different,” he said.
Helping People Find Community
Gunn said there are so many touching stories in the process of founding A Stand In the Park.“They’re all as powerful each time that I hear them,” he said. “I’ve many people sending me messages online or talking to me when they see me on Facebook, just crying, saying ‘I’m crying as I’m writing this...’”
One message Gunn said with The Epoch Times explained how after losing everything, including their house, job, kids and friends, the group was able to help them reconnect.
“ I lost my house; I lost my kids; I lost my job… I lost everything; I lost all my friends, but then I went to the park, and then I made all of these connections, and I reconnected, and I realized that I wasn’t alone… [I made] the best friends that I ever have. I’m just so thankful…’, ” the message read.
“So many stories like that… It’s just really, really big stories of what people have lost and the difference that they made,” Gunn said, noting that those stories always filled him with joy.