Native Drums
Explore the powerful symbolism of drums in African American culture, once tools of communication and resistance during the darkest times of slavery. We confront the lingering shadows of economic exploitation and the pervasive influence of media and religion in controlling black narratives. Let’s reexamine the role of the black church and its mission to fight systemic injustices, urging a return to prophetic ministries that prioritize humanity and community over material wealth. This podcast episode is not just a reflection of the past but a call to action for the future, urging us to build a more just and liberated world.
Native Drums
From Pulpit To City Hall: Unity, History, And A Plan For A Better Florence
A church that raised leaders now fuels a mayor who leads with neighbors at the center. We sat down with Mayor Lithonia Barnes to unpack a people-first blueprint for Florence: from fireside chats that turn feedback into action, to a citywide march that pairs civic pride with hot grits and a clear call to show up. She shares how honoring Dr. Iola Jones’ legacy became the backbone of a neighborhood plan—an empowerment center, a mental oasis to counter nightly gunfire stress, and housing that restores dignity with quality finishes and resident input.
We go deep on the Oakland Project and beyond: tearing down blight at the gateway to Historic North Florence, investing over $11 million in storm drainage, and partnering with churches and developers to build affordable homes on city land with $25,000 down payment assistance. Barnes outlines how this approach resists gentrification by returning locals to ownership and giving families the tools—credit classes, banking support, and community services—to stay and thrive. The work spreads across all four quadrants with parks, infill, and a “to be continued” promise that no corner is overlooked.
Hard truths meet concrete steps on infrastructure, safety, and mobility. Florence is tackling a $200 million surface-water problem with grants, staged borrowing, and SCADA technology that detects issues early while crews flush lines fast. On crime, drones that launch in under 90 seconds and a growing Flock camera network have helped clear more than 170 cases, complemented by youth programs, officer housing incentives, and accountability for businesses that fuel violence. Transit is now free on county buses, while the airport pursues cargo and international capability to leverage Florence’s rail and highway advantages.
If you care about how cities rebuild trust, honor history, and choose people over ego, this conversation offers a roadmap you can borrow. Subscribe, share with a neighbor who loves their city, and leave a review telling us the first step your community should take next.
Hello, I'm Ralph Candy and welcome again to Native Drums. It's my pleasure to have as our special guest today the Reverend Pastor Lithonia Barnes, who also serves as mayor of the city of Florence, South Carolina. Reverend Pastor Mayor, it's such a pleasure to have you today.
SPEAKER_01:And it is a pleasure to be here.
SPEAKER_00:You bring so much to this podcast as I reflect upon your life as a child in Savannah Grove Church, who has now grown not only into womanhood, but to in the fullest statue of civic and political leadership. Savannah Grove Church has a very rich heritage. We feel extremely proud of the contributions we have made to the political and civic sector of life from Reconstruction until now. We boast here at Savannah Grove Church of having had at least three persons from our congregation to serve in the South Carolina legislature. We have had at least three members to serve on different school boards. We have had a municipal judge and two persons who have served on Florence City Council and one who served on Florence County Council. And I think it's worthy to mention that the person who currently serves on County Council happens to be your brother. And then now we are blessed to have you as uh as a member of this church and as pastor of Fletcher Grove Baptist Church in Lorenburg, North Carolina, serving as mayor of uh uh the Magic City.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:What said you of this occasion?
SPEAKER_01:Um, you know, when you put it into that perspective, it helps me to understand all that went into who I am. Um, you yourself um have done so much work out there in the field, and I was surrounded uh by by a lot of those people that you've just named. And so it it make it just makes sense that Savannah Grove produces um servants that are willing to serve, not just for titles, but really to get um the job done for the people. It is what I've seen all my life in um being raised and reared here in Savannah Grove. And so I am honored to step into this position, understanding that um those that have come before me have actually made my pathway clearer.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, wonderful. Now, if I recall correctly, you you served on county council on city council.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:For for one term?
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:For one term and for four years.
SPEAKER_01:Four years.
SPEAKER_00:And and now you are nearing uh the completion of your first year uh as mayor.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:Uh tell us what that first year has been like in your life.
SPEAKER_01:It has been busy. It really has been busy. Um I hit the ground running. There have been a lot of projects done. There but there's a lot of collaborations. One of the first things that I wanted to do was to um, I I launched a campaign stronger together. And that meant bringing entities, people, churches, schools, everybody together for one goal, and that's for a better Florence. Um, and that has kept me really busy trying to reach out to as many people and different entities that I can. Um, so that you know, when you you sit at the table with so many different ideas, it's it's you you know we are going to come up with the better idea when all are input giving input. And that's one of the busiest things that I've been doing. And once I uh allowed the people to know that I am for them and that I am accessible, they then said, Okay, you are. Well, here you go. We got some stuff for you to do, and they they've been keeping me busy.
SPEAKER_00:Wonderful. Well, you know, one of the uh profound principles that Jesus espoused was the concept of unity. Uh a house divided against itself cannot stand. A church divided cannot stand. That same principle applies to municipal government. Uh so I I think it uh is significant that uh you have uh engaged uh in uh a campaign to bring this community together. Uh tell us some of the things that you have done in in this regard.
SPEAKER_01:And so one of the things that I've done to start off, we did a campaign fireside chat. And that is we would go to the community, um having open dialogue, allowing them to know what the city is doing, and then for them to tell us their needs. Um we would cook and feed them and serve them. Um, as you know from Savannah Grove, that's one of my loves to cook and serve the community. So I took that there, and that was a great success. I will probably do another round of that once we get, because we've gotten so many of those projects out of the way. Um and then we've got uh I guess there's so many projects that um that I can talk about, but there is so much movement all over Florence. The entire city of Florence has is bustling with newness. And um one of the things that I've seen you do as a leader, and some of the leaders that um I was blessed to be under, um bringing the people along with what you are doing, it makes it so much better. Um while we can put new buildings in communities, but if there is not a mindset change or a shift, the community won't actually care for what we are doing. My uh one major thing that I want to do is bring the people along and put them out front. Not make this about me, a campaign, any other political leader, but make everything that we do about the people. So we're getting a lot done, but my major thing that I think that I'm undertaking is um bringing the people together so that they will be excited. Change happens with the people, not with um a new building. The people have to buy in.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, wonderful. So on on the one hand, uh at ground zero level, you uh building on unity and and consensus. Uh what about the projects? What are some of or maybe I should my question should be what are the major projects that's on the agenda for council at at this point?
SPEAKER_01:At this point, um, of course, we're doing an urban square, which would be a um across, that would be in the downtown area. Major because it the first townhouse condo that will be built there will be the at the same location where the first hotel for Florence ever will be. It's the old trailway bus station. And we actually brought in our archaeology um specialists to dig and get some artifacts. Well, that's one of the things, and that we will be doing a groundbreaking for that. Now, my Oakland project is what um if I can go there, sure if that's okay. Um the Oakland project is something, is probably um one thing that's lumped together that helps the community to see progress faster because it's lumped together. Um on um Oakland Avenue, right at the end of the bridge, there is a two-story house there that um has been an ISO for at least 40 years or longer. Uh we are um getting possession of that so that we can tear that down and put at the beginning of the community welcome to historic North Laurence. Why is that important? When people are entering into their homes, entering into their neighborhoods, they see this unsightly piece of proper property that reminds them of this is where they are, their home. And so we want to we we want to change that. When you come on down Oakland Avenue, there has been a problem with flooding. Uh so we are doing uh over$11 million of storm drainage on Oakland Avenue. Then we've got some Oakland plantation, the apartments there. We have partnered with um the Housing Authority. The Housing Authority will be tearing those apartments down, and new, a new brand new count um um building will be erected. This is top of the line. We're not talking um what we are accustomed to seeing with projects. We're talking granite towel, we're talking crown molding in these, and and housing is allowing the residents to come in and help design what they want, giving them a sense of dignity. Also across the street, Dr. Isla Jones' um home has um been purchased by the city, and we are deeding it to the housing authority. That place will be an empowerment center. For oftentimes people go into housing and never come out. We understand a mindset change has to happen. But there again, we've got all of these different um groups that want to help in the community, but but need to come together. So it whether it be the churches, whether it be 501c3 mentor, mentorship groups, we want to bring house, um, have a place to house where people could come in. We also understand in that same area, those people hear gunshots every night. Every night. So there is a form of PTSD that is going on. So in the in the back of the empowerment center, we want to do a mental oasis, uh um an outdoor art gallery, um, creating a space of peace and tranquility. Um and that's that one. Then at right down the street, you've got the Isla Jones Park, and we just completed our amphitheater. Amphitheater there. Um, across the street from the park is an old dilapidated store. We've reached out to the owners, and they have agreed to build a gas station there. And then in that area, we are trying to build 10 or more houses. As of to date, we've got about five people. Um, and I think they were all a part of the churches. When I reached out to all of the pastors and churches asking them to um if we would give them a piece of property and$25,000 down payment assistance if they would build a home so that it would be um affordable. Um, and right now we have five that have signed up to build. So we've got five more to go. So um, and there's much more. Um we are really, but but before I say anything else, and as we were doing this, God spoke to me and said, um, before you do anything else, before you turn any dirt, make sure that you bring the people along because they need to know it is because they have gotten behind this that this is getting done. We need to empower the people. And so on November the 8th, we will be having a reclaiming our community march. And we're asking for all to come out and rep your school, rep your fraternity, rep your business, um, whatever in t-shirts or however, to come out so that we could march and um allow the community to know that we're here and change is coming. And well, change is here. So um, and also we will have fried fish and hot grits that morning. My pastor laughs at me because I'm always trying to feed people. But that would be um at Dr. Isla Jones Park at uh 10 o'clock November, um November the 8th that morning. And it will be a prayer.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, well let's let's back up a bit. Okay, because I think I I heard somewhere in the air that that march was planned for a previous time and was canceled. You want to talk to us a bit about that, why it was canceled?
SPEAKER_01:Thank you so much. Thank you. The march was was planned, I think, for October the um Octo two weeks ago. And um it we had a rainstorm, and we had to postpone it. But let me tell you, people are so excited. There were people who showed up in the rain to march in the rain. And so I got phone calls. Where are you all? And I said, Well, it's been postponed because of rain. And they were like, Well, we're ready. And so I'm hoping that um our community is still ready and that they will show up in big numbers.
SPEAKER_00:So this is the same March, just a different different date.
SPEAKER_01:Same March, different date.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. Speak speak to us if you don't mind, Mayor. You you've you've mentioned the name um Dr. Iola Jones on several times during your comments. Uh who is Dr. Iola Jones and uh what makes her property significant to this project?
SPEAKER_01:Dr. Iola Jones and her brother were very instrumental um in um the 60s, well, even in the 50s, um, they did a lot of community work. Dr. Isla Jones was the first um social worker for South Carolina, black social worker for South Carolina, and her work was so instrumental that it it gained the attention of the White House. She was called to the White House on three different occasions. She became a personal friend with Eleanor Roosevelt. She also opened up the first uh foster care um um for uh blacks. And um she has done just so much work in community. She has helped to um establish several women's groups, even in the church and in the community. Uh her her she did not have children, her community was her children, and she she fought to find ways to better the community. Um Frances Marianne honored her by um doing a historic landmark. And early when the park was named after her, uh the mayor Cooper Teta honored her work uh because it it is an extensive um amount of work that she has done throughout. Um I think um Mars Carrup College has a building that's named after her. Uh and so it gives me aunt now, Dr. Ala Jones is my aunt, but I did not know her for the work that she did. I knew her when she was older. I I would have to go to her house as a little girl and braid her hair, and my mom would send us over there to clean up. It was later on in life that I found out all of the things that she and her brother, Joe Dees. Um, he was instrumental when downtown was thriving, and it was called Black Wall Street down there. He had several businesses. He was the promoter that brought a lot of um world-renowned talent to Florence, um, and that's why they honored him as well. Um, so um they they they were very instrumental in uh a lot of different things.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, okay. It it it sounds like uh uh Dr. Aola Jones was of the class and style of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune. Was there any relationship between the two of them, as you know?
SPEAKER_01:I'm glad you said that. They became um really good friends. Dr. um uh Mary McLeod Bethune's pastor was Dr. Isla Jones' husband. Wow. And so Dr. Isla Jones being the first lady of the church, it it brought the two of them together. And so her connection to the White House came through Mary McClauck Bethune because the the first um reach out was to Mary Cloud Bethune, and so it brought Isla Jones along with it.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, that's an interesting piece of history, and and that's an interesting perspective as we talk about the redevelopment of a community and tying that redevelopment to history and to a resident uh who had uh state and and and national acclaim. So uh thank you so very much for uh bringing that information to our attention. Uh pushing uh the needle a step further in your conversation as you talked about redevelopment, you talked about uh a project to uh construct new homes in in that area and the partnership between city council and and local churches. Could you elaborate on that a bit for us?
SPEAKER_01:I would gladly. Uh one of the things that we understand, we we don't want to get into the business of real estate as a city, but we are hoping that we could bring partners along. So the city owns property, and we are even going to take it further by purchasing additional properties to give to churches, developers, those who have the finances to build. Once we give that property, we do have an agreement that you have to sign because we don't want shabby homes built. These homes have to have crown molding, they have to have granite top um countertops and nice flooring because we don't want 10 years later us wanting and needing to redo these homes. And so we that agreement is signed. After that agreement is signed, you build the home. We will give$25,000 for down payment assistance so that it again giving the property takes the cost down, and also giving of$25,000 allows you to sell the home at an obtainable rate, an affordable house. And that's what we're shoot shooting for. We also have programs in place. Housing has partnered with us where they could take classes for um for to repair their credit, um, partnering with banks to so that they can be in position to buy um homes. Um we there there are several different projects or programs that we have in place to help our people get back into the community. Um of the things that I noticed a lot of people said, well, I'm afraid if you fix the community up, gentrification comes in. Well, this effort helps actually push gentrification down the road. We we we are trying our best to get those into the communities who want to be there. They are from the community, but they may not have the resources or even the know-how to get new homes.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, wonderful. Uh so if if I recall correctly, I'm over 30, you know, and I'm that's North Florence, you're talking about.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:All right. Uh what's your vision for? I think Florence is pretty much known for uh being a four-sectional geographical community, north, south, east, and west.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:So this effort is all focused on North Florence. Uh what are you envisioning for the other sections of Florence?
SPEAKER_01:And I'm glad you said that because this is the beginning, and that's why at the end of everything we are saying to be continued, um, in East Florence, right now we have$19 million going over there in the park. We've gotten um nine homes to be built over in the Pine Street Gillyard. And not only to mention the projects of housing and the city working together will also happen in the East Florence and the West Florence. And so we we've got um big plans for all of our areas. That's why we are taking one bite at a time, getting the people on board, um, and then we will continue to move around Florence. No part of Florence will be left out. This is for all of Florence. Um, and so when you're excited for someone else, you make it happen for yourself. And that's what we're seeing. We're we're having people from West Florence to come to the march in North Florence, people in East Florence coming to the march in North Florence because this is about us, all of us, and and um the plan, no, no corner will be left unturned.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, wonderful. Okay, thank you. Um uh Mayor Barnes. Now, uh, if you don't mind, let's let's shift a little bit from um geopolitical uh residential subdivisions to some more or less universal conversation. Okay. Uh can you talk to us? Uh I understand that there has been uh uh a major uh issue in Florence with water. Uh I'd like for you to to s address the the issue with uh the water project, where we are with that project, where we are with crime, uh where we are with transportation, and I suspect the fourth one would be where we are with industrial development.
SPEAKER_01:Wow, yeah, and like I said, this is a great time to be in Florence because it's happening everywhere. And so when I became, when I became mayor, um I had not been sworn in yet, but I had been going to meetings as mayor, people um were calling me into the meeting. We had our a major water issue, and the city council and I talked, and they said, All right, you want to be mayor? We need to see change. And the reason they said that is for years, people Have been kicking the can down the road. They say, Oh, we live in a swamp. What you expect? Well, I decided that, you know, I called the city manager and I said, I can't, I can't settle for that answer. You you've got to give me something else. Something has to be done. Um, the hard decisions had to be made. Um, and um we I, you know, had to be uh my first assignment, I had to be firm and say, look, you're gonna, we hired you as city manager, and we expect you to get this job done. And can I tell you, he has delivered. Now, some people may not see it because this problem is a$200 million problem just for surface water. Wow. That's not included, including sewage, that it is just that much for sewage. So when we think about that, where's the money gonna come from? Who's gonna pay for this? So we're applying for grants, we're trying to get private and um public funds, um, but some of this money will be passed on to the consumer. No politician wants to tell someone their their water rates is going up. However, what was placed in our lap was fixed the problem or it gets worse. And so we had to bite the bullet. And we brought in experts from everywhere. Um they were talking about maybe we need to sell to a water authority, maybe, and when the expert spoke to say everything that this city manager has put in place is right on point, the problem is it takes a while. We have just borrowed, we've um passed an ordinance where city um the city manager could borrow$270 million. Well, he can't use$270 million because the developers are are not moving that quick. So we decided, well, he decided to get$170,000,$170 million, um, and we put some bids out there. Well, the bids are coming in slow. The reason being everybody has infrastructure problems. And so these developers who are working on this understand that they can bid two and three times more than what it really costs to do the job. And so we had to take a back step and rethink. But we brought in specialists, we we are doing the skater system. The skater system is put on our moving in technology where before we see the brown water, the skater system uh um detects it, and then we can go out and flush the system. Well, with the rapid growth that's going on in Florence. So in Florence, even though we're in the city, but all of Florence who that's under our in our area, we control the water and sewage. And so when you have 8,000 homes permitted to be built within the next year, that's a lot of building. It is also a lot of knocking on pipes where old settlement falls into the water, resulting with um residents getting brown water. Um, so now we have to put in place that as soon as the skater system tells us or we get calls that there's brown water, we run out and flush the water system. So you will see a lot more of our people, the firemen or our um departments flushing fire hydrants, and that's to help to flush out some of the settlement that's falling in the water. Um we've had problems with stealing developers whose billing instead of going in the right way to get water, they just knock a pipe open and steal the water. And so what happens? Settlement falls. Um, but right now we are on a good path for our water. It is just, I'm gonna ask everyone to be patient because it's gonna take a while for us to fix a problem. Our water system has really not been the pipes that we are dealing with were done in the 70s. So Florence was a lot smaller. The size of the pipes that we need is much larger. When you look at just in Florence, South Carolina, there's over 700 miles of pipes. So for that to be replaced, you're talking about going to Miami and back. That's how much pipes are in, and we've got to do replacement. That's not going to change overnight. So that's our water system.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, okay, wow. That that's that's a meaningful report. Uh, and it certainly suggests progress. A problem uh that existed prior uh to your coming into office, but you are uh managing it. Thank you for that report. Okay? Now talk to us about this crime thing and and the 15-year-old shooting in the middle of the night and that sort of stuff.
SPEAKER_01:Well, um one of the first things that I tackled was crime. And so um outside of the water, because that happened before I was sworn in, by the time I was sworn in, I came up with a five-point plan to um crime. Um and um one of the main things out of the five-point plan was policing through technology. Um we look at TV, the N what NCIS, NCIS um program, but that is real. We need more centers policing in that way because it helps our police to do a better job, and it also keeps them safe when we can use technology. So um we have a drone that's my baby. I I love the drone system that we have. This drone system sits on top of City Hall. Within 30 to 90 seconds, it could be in any place in Florence. Uh, the only thing we got to do is enter the address. Uh, when once it comes over, it will actually just stay right there. Every police car has the data where the camera system where they can see what's going on. In 30 to 60 seconds, if if someone has a break-in, we can we can catch them at the place or running away. We also have a flock camera system, and that system um it connects with other cities and towns and states. Anybody who has the flock camera um system, um, we can connect in it. So when with we us having the drones, us having the flock camera system, when you drive past, it reads the the um the tag on it. It also will allow if we the you say the person that robbed the store was driving uh uh gray mission um Nissan, we put in gray Nissan um the year make model. Um it will pull up every one of them as that pass the cameras. We have 66, I'm sorry, 68 cameras around Florence. Darlington has them, the county has them. MacBee, I don't know if you remember, MacBee had a shooting, uh, the cop was shot in the head, and the person that did it fled to Florence. Because of the flop camera system, his car dinged our police. We were able to notify the MacBee police that he was in Florence. Our people got behind him. He fled to state, the state, um, Lee State County Um Park, um, and there he took his life, but it was because you you would be surprised. As of, I want to say, as of September, over 170 cases have been solved because of our flock camera systems. And so policing through technology works. Um, and we're not stopping there. We are looking to do bigger and better and more that um will help to keep Florence safe. We named the um camp for our young people after um Terrence Caraway, the officer that was gunned down in the line of duty. We brought that back. We also are offering money to our police that live in um high crime areas. We will help to pay their mortgage or their rent. Um we are also the the um what is it? The um, I'm trying to think, the businesses that have a lot of crime, we are actually saying, hey, we've got to look at your license. We've got to look at if you should be licensed to have businesses in Florence if you're going to be a hub for crime. Uh so there is a lot going on.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. All right. What what what about the transportation? How how we come with transportation? What what's our what are we looking like in terms of how we get people in our city from one point to the other?
SPEAKER_01:The county has done a really good thing. Now you could ride for free. The busing system is for free for anyone. Going to work, going out to shop, whatever, it is free. The transportation I would like to talk about is our airport. Our airport is on the move. And I would encourage all of the citizens, if you want to see our airport system grow, we've got to help them grow by flying out of Florence. Most people will ride to Myrtle Beach or ride to um um Charlotte, but we need to invest. We've got a new director, and he is on the money. He is looking to bring in cargo. Cargo is major, uh making Florence an international airport where they could come in with all of these tariffs and things like that. When you have a place where they could come in so um um and bring stuff in from overseas. I think on the East Coast, outside of Charlotte, see uh you there's not that at um Myrtle Beach. So Charlotte has it, um Raleigh has it, but no one else does. And so he's trying to move to get that and also bring in cargo. The cargo, the train system runs right by the airport. We we are Florence is just situated just perfect, just perfect for everything. The roads, all roads lead to Florence. Um, we're we've got connectivity, we've got access through trains, through airport, through um, and and industry is just booming, booming here in Florence. That tells us that they see the gym that we are.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. Okay, well, finally, that's you are clearly a visionary. So share with us your vision for Florence. Say five years from now, ten years or twenty years from now. Where do you see Florence going?
SPEAKER_01:Florence right now is growing, but growth brings on problems, and we see a lot of bigger cities with a lot of growth, but with that growth they lose their connectivity. That's something that really is hard to do when you're growing fast, and so being intentional about our growth, being intentional about where we build, how we build, because we got to live here after everything is all built up. Um that's something that you know we we need to empower our people, one, to care for this place called Florence. This is not just the elected official's job. This is not the pastor and the church's job, the teachers and the principal. This is our job. Bringing everyone on board is something that that is major. We we're looking at so many different things that we're doing, it's already happening, but I don't want us to lose our connectivity, and that's what I want to be intentional about.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. As a community, what can we do to support you and to support council and to foster a better, greater Florence?
SPEAKER_01:That's a great, great question because there are a lot of things that we could do. We could you you could serve on boards and commissions. You can um when COVID hit, we had a time where we went to our homes and we have not fully come back the way we should. Being engaged is something that helps us. It's almost as though we are the body, but you tie a tourniquet around stopping the flow of um everything being able to go to um one body. We have to come back together again. It's it's funny we say the good old days. We call them a good old days for a reason. Family was strong, community was strong, the church was was strong. You could trust people. Getting back to basic 101 is something that we really need to work on. And so I would say love your neighbor as yourself. I would say help each other, support one another, show up to meetings and voice your opinion. It is not good enough for you to stand on the sideline and complain. What are you gonna do about the problem in your community? How are you going to make a difference right where you live? You know, you don't have to pick up a title, just pick up whatever God has put in front of you. Um, that's one of the ways that you can help.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. Hey, it's been such a pleasure having you today. Now tell us again the Iola Jones, North Florence March is what date?
SPEAKER_01:November the 8th at 10 o'clock at Dr. Isla Jones Park. Please come. Please come. You can come hungry because we'll feed you, but come ready to unite as one as a community.
SPEAKER_00:And I think I've heard you say you you you would love to see about 500 people there.
SPEAKER_01:I we want 500 plus people. So rep your your school, rep your class, rep your church. Um, we want you to wear your different. I'm glad you said that because I didn't say this. This will be videoed. We want to do a video of Florence coming together. And so we want to see your picture on there. We want to see your face representing on the video.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. Thank you so very much for coming and being with us today. Thank you for coming and for being with us. Uh, it's our intent uh to make Native Drums more and more an informative forum for this community, keeping you in touch and empowered. God bless you. Have a good day.