From the outside looking in, Don Young and Kelvin Trice look like opposites.

Don, 75, is a retired grandfather with three grown children in their 40s and 50s. He recently celebrated his 55th wedding anniversary. His earliest school experiences involved racially segregated environments. He also experienced the first desegregation efforts in his Kansas City high school.

Kelvin, 60, is still in the throes of his career and has a daughter who just finished elementary school. When Kelvin began grade school, desegregation was the law, but that didn’t mean racially charged attitudes didn’t linger—in both directions.

Don is white. Kelvin is Black.

But that’s where the differences end. In fact, when these two men met at last year’s Unite KC Walk for Unity, they discovered a unified, kindred spirit centered on Jesus. Don later described the experience to his wife, Conny: “It felt like I was talking to a younger version of myself.”

Their relationship did not end with the culmination of the walk. They’ve diligently worked to continue building it. Kelvin and Don personify what the Unite KC Annual Walk for Unity aims to accomplish – building relationships across cultural divides. This is their story.

“Beautiful morning, isn’t it?” Don raised his voice as he milled about and locked eyes with a man he’d never met.

“Sure is,” the man replied. “I’m Kelvin.” He reached out his hand for a handshake.

Grabbing the man’s hand, Don replied, “Kelvin…you mean like Coach Kelvin Sampson?”

Kelvin immediately laughed and responded, “No, no, but I do love basketball!”

And with that simple interaction, Don and Kelvin began an important relationship in their lives.

In the weeks leading up to this moment, both men had frequently prayed about who they might meet at the Walk for Unity. They wanted their participation to mean something.

“A lot of times we do things for a photo-op, but I was like, I really want to meet someone I connect with,” Kelvin recalled. “I said, ‘Lord, I really want to meet someone, and I don’t want this to just be a shallow thing.’”

When the walk officially began, the two men began walking together. While neither one remembers precisely how or why it happened, the pair wrapped their arms around each other at the waist and walked like that for the entire one-mile length of the walk.

“When we started walking at the beginning, we just started talking about the Lord and our love for the Lord and what he’s doing in our life,” Kelvin said. “And, right then, we just put our arms around each other.”

As the men walked, they shared their unique experiences, a decade and a half apart, growing up in Kansas City.

Don graduated from high school in 1965. At that time, Black students had started attending his high school, but he remembers they were still a significant minority. Fortunate to have grown up in a home where his parents taught him to value the content of someone’s character rather than the color of their skin, Don struggled to understand the culture of racism that still gripped many in his generation.

Kelvin, on the other hand, grew up in the 70s, graduating in 1981. When he was young, his parents moved into a predominantly white neighborhood. Consequently, some of his best friends were white. However, there was still a racially driven frictional undercurrent he couldn’t quite understand.

As the men talked, each felt connected to the other in a way neither could quite put words around.

“I remember thinking, ‘This guy seems just like me,’” Kelvin said. “We both love basketball and baseball. I played baseball in college. We connected about sports but then started talking about the Lord. I was telling him about what I do at Macedonia Baptist Church, and he was telling me about the group of men he meets with at Westside. As he talked about what kinds of things his group does and the way they pray together, I thought, ‘We do the same thing in my men’s group.’”

The men shared their personal histories and talked about how much God had done in their lives to heal and challenge their mindsets.

The men discovered their kindred love for God’s Word as they talked. “We both love the Old Testament,” Don said. “We shared scripture. I remember sharing my favorite verse, which is Micah 6:8. It speaks to me every day.”

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? – Micah 6:8

“That verse grips my heart every time. It means that I have to be just, merciful, and walk humbly with God. It reminds me that there is no one good. It’s only by the grace of God, and you only receive his grace by diligently seeking him.”

That verse might as well be at the heart of Unite KC, whose motto is “Do one good thing.” A simple act to “do good” encourages justice, kindness, and humility. Perhaps that’s why Don found it easy to get behind the organization’s mission and the walk.

“You can legislate all you want, but that doesn’t change anything. It’s a matter of the heart. I’m emotional about that,” Don said.

As the pair continued their connection, it all came back full circle to what God is doing in their lives and Kansas City. Then the walk was over. It had gone too fast.

“I remember I said to him, ‘You know we’ve got to get together. This friendship does not end. I don’t want to lose this.’” Kelvin was adamant with those parting words and hopeful Don felt the same way.

Quick to agree, Don pulled out his cell phone and asked Kelvin to enter his contact information. Within weeks, the men scheduled a double date with their wives. Since then, they have visited each other’s churches and began texting each other throughout each week to exchange prayer requests. While their friendship is still developing, neither can imagine their life without the other.

“I’d do anything I can for him, and I know he would do the same for me,” Don said.

Since last year’s walk, Kelvin experienced two significant life moments and invited Don and his wife to join the celebration. The first was Kelvin and his wife’s wedding vow renewal and 16th-anniversary celebration. The second was his licensing service at Macedonia Baptist Church which licensed him to preach.

Both men hope that others attend this year’s walk and come with an open heart that seeks to build a new relationship beyond the event.

“Pray and say, ‘Lord, I want you to connect me with someone,’” Kelvin encourages. “Ask him to help you look past color and look at people as people and not as a color. Look at them as human, God’s beautiful, individual creation. When you start looking past all these societal stereotypes, you see the beauty in people. And you may find out you have so much in common.”

Kelvin and Don arrived at the walk that morning with a specific desire and prayer. Don says if you are going to go, it’s imperative to want something new.

“If you don’t,” he said, you might as well not have made the original effort. If you don’t follow up, nothing comes from it. No hearts are changed, and no realities are changed. This is the way Jesus would have us live—we are brothers and sisters.”

The 2023 Unite KC Walk for Unity takes place Saturday, June 10. If you plan to attend, please register and arrive at the field on the corner of Troost and Truman in KCMO by 8:30. The walk will commence at 9 a.m., ending at the Great Lawn just outside the Urban Youth Academy. At the end of the walk, enjoy live music, food trucks and continue the conversation over a meal.

Unite KC is a Community Partner of Westside Family Church. For more information about their mission or to learn how you can get involved, visit their website at unitekc.org.