Face-to-face company: Anchorpoint hosts first Unity Day

The morning cloud burst worried KC Adams.

“If you give people a reason not to show up, sometimes they take
it,” Adams said.

And showing up to Unity Day on Saturday at Anchorpoint Christian
High School was all that Adams wanted people to do. When the rain
cleared and the sun peaked through the clouds, he breathed a sigh
of relief.

“I feel good that my phone is dying, because so many people are
calling to say they’re coming,” Adams said.

Adams put together the first-ever Unity Day at Anchorpoint with
one simple goal.

“We want to get everyone from the community to say ‘hello’ to
each other,” Adams said, who is the small private school’s athletic
director, basketball and football coach.

To him, one little “hello” is all it takes. During the morning
prayer, attendees were spread out across the auditorium, often with
three or four seats between them.

“But the pastor got them together, got them to shake hands,”
Adams said. “And now people are talking, now the kids are playing
together.”

About 150 people at any given time were on the Anchorpoint
campus on Pacheco Pass Highway Saturday – and while the adults
listened to a schedule of speakers and live music, the children ran
off their energy during a 3-on-3 basketball tournament, jumping in
a bounce house or trying the punt, pass, kick challenge.

Adams wanted people to come in wondering where they could get
help, find art classes or take their kids to preschool. Beyond
gathering face to face, an American Red Cross blood drive gave
attendees another way to help each other.

The blood drive directly benefited people with sickle cell
anemia, a disease that warps the body’s red blood cells and causes
intense chest and joint pain – and often affects the African
American community. The only treatment is regular blood
transfusions.

Michelle Travlos, a close friend of Adams, organized the drive.
Travlos was diagnosed with sickle cell anemia and has sponsored
several blood drives in Gilroy. She said 36 people had signed up in
advance, and within an hour of the event starting, 10 more had
volunteered.

“To get even 30 donors in this area, because Gilroy is a small
town, is a big deal,” Travlos said.

Antoinette McCoy, a first-time donor, encouraged people to give
blood.

“This process is painless. It’s easy,” McCoy said.

McCoy, a Technology Partnerships Manager at NASA, was at Unity
Day with Mocha Moms, a 10-year-old support group for Gilroy
mothers.

Mocha Moms president Victoria Baxter said the group was at
Anchorpoint to network with mothers who want to spend more time
with their families and get involved in their children’s education.
Initially, the group targeted African American moms, but it accepts
members of all races.

“The African American community is spread out,” in Gilroy,
Baxter said. She added that at Mocha Moms events, people who have
lived in Gilroy for 20-plus years would meet each other for the
first time.

For years, Adams said he had talked among his friends about
putting together an an all-day gathering like Unity Day.

“We just went out on a limb and told everyone we knew to just
hang out,” Adams said. “And they are and it’s great.”