Volunteers and community members who envision a “Summer of Peace” will gather Saturday to cultivate youth as they pull weeds from a northwest Denver garden.
The Summer of Peace movement, founded this spring by an anti-violence, anti-gang coalition, is holding a fundraiser at the Troy Chavez Memorial Peace Garden, 3825 Shoshone St.
Chavez was 16 when he was shot dead July 5, 1993 – during Denver’s so-called “summer of violence” – in a church parking lot during a gang dispute.
“We are going to try and re-enforce the teachings of peace with our young people,” said Ana Chavez de Quintana, Troy’s mother. “That is the whole concept.”
The Metro Denver Gang Coalition, which includes former gang members, hopes to head off violence this summer by raising awareness and helping teens steer clear of gangs.
“If we don’t give them an alternative, they will find one,” said Francisco Gallardo, program director of the Gang Rescue and Support Project.
Gallardo, 35, a former teen gang member, estimates there are up to 12,000 gang members throughout the metro area – and the number is on the rise.
“In my community, I think it is an epidemic,” said Gallardo, a resident and native of northwest Denver.
Gallardo will join an expected 50 volunteers to sell Summer of Peace yard signs at the Chavez garden Saturday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. The $5 signs will help the coalition fund anti-gang programs, Gallardo said. Community members, including teens and preteens, will help weed the peace garden.
Organizers hope to sell up to 500 signs Saturday and throughout the summer.
Lt. Ken Chavez of the Denver Police Department’s Gang Unit has worked with the coalition and other anti-gang groups.
“It’s not just a police problem, it’s a community problem,” Chavez said. “The coalition helps out with preventing kids from getting into gangs in the first place.”
Lt. Chavez is not related to Chavez de Quintana.
Ceramic tiles have been set at the garden over the years to memorialize people who have been lost to violence.
“As we cultivate the garden, so we cultivate nature and guide the youth,” one tile reads.
The Chavez peace garden opened in 1994, about a year after Troy’s death, on land donated by Leprino Foods.
“We want to be able to offer a serene place,” Chavez de Quintana said. “This is a continuing effort to combat violence in our community.”
“Everbody working together means we are all dedicated toward the same end goal,” Chavez said. “It’s important that the coalition is energized.”
For more information on Summer of Peace, go to
Staff writer Kieran Nicholson can be reached at 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com.
