North Star Community Newsletter                                                             October 2025

Welcome to your monthly North Star Community Newsletter — A gathering space for faith-based organizations to come together and share in the joy of health, wellness, and community. All faiths are welcome here!  

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“Grounded in faith, rooted in community — we pause to breathe, pray, and walk together toward healing and wholeness.”

“Before we move into PrayerTREK, we’re taking a sacred pause to breathe, pray, and ground ourselves—body, spirit, and community. Together, we walk by faith, drawing strength from the Divine and from one another as we move toward healing and wholeness.”

✨ Dear North Star Family,

Prayer Changes Things — and Walking Changes Us. This month, we’re slowing down and stepping deeper into the sacred practice of grounding — steadying our bodies, calming our spirits, and reconnecting with our High Power and one another. As a faith community, we continue to grow stronger, walking and praying together with purpose and love.

✨ Celebrating Faith Trek
We want to take a moment to celebrate everyone who completed the 21-Day Faith Trek during September! Your dedication to walking in faith is inspiring. As we keep this sacred rhythm going, we’re inviting each of you to reach one sister and join us for the next journey — the 21-Day Gratitude Trek, happening November 1–30.

The Gratitude Trek continues the spiritual momentum we’ve built through Prayer TREK. Over 21 days, we’ll walk at least 30 minutes a day with grateful, thankful hearts — practicing daily acts of kindness toward ourselves, each other, and our communities. Plus, we’ll gather weekly for Monday Evening Virtual Faith Walk & Talk Check-ins, to share, encourage, and reflect together.

👉🏾 Click here to join the Gratitude Trek

✨ Prepare for Prayer TREK
We’re preparing our hearts for Prayer TREK 2025 (October 20–31), and we want you to join us for this powerful 10-day journey of prayer and movement. Each day, we’ll walk, pray, and reflect with devotionals and affirmations designed to strengthen our faith and impact our nation — increasing life expectancy and improving the quality of life in our communities. Register for Prayer TREK here and invite your family, friends, and faith community to walk with you. Share this Invitation flyer or these flyers.

If you missed it, listen to our “Prelude to Prayer TREK” from last month’s North Star Gathering — and share it forward as an invitation for others to join this year’s Prayer TREK.

✨ Join the October Gathering
We also invite you to our upcoming North Star Faith Community Gathering on Tuesday, October 28 — a sacred interfaith circle where we’ll explore the meaning of “Grounding” in body, spirit, and community. Together, we’ll practice centering exercises, reflect in our community halls, and learn the benefits of caring for our feet and how connecting directly with the earth can restore balance and wellness.

As we participate in Prayer TREK, this gathering reminds us that grounding is where prayer meets movement — where faith meets action. Come be renewed, reconnected, and re-energized. 

And if you feel called to lead others in this work, join our upcoming Faith Crew Leader Training, where you’ll learn to organize and guide walks of faith, healing, and justice in your own community. 

We encourage you to host a Crew Walk with your faith community on Sisterhood Saturday, November 1, 2025 for First Saturday Faith Walks – a time to celebrate your crew’s completion of the Prayer TREK and give thanks for how far we’ve come together. 

Together, we’re bringing feet to prayers and prayers to the pavement. 🌍💫

🙏🏾 May this season of grounding bring you peace, strength, and a deeper awareness of the divine beneath your feet and the peace already within.

Peace & Blessings,
The GirlTREK Faith Team

PS - We love hearing from you, so feel free to reach out in any way that inspires you at faith@girltrek.org.

Join us in the following virtual gathering spaces:

On September 13th, at Greenforest Community Baptist Church’s Business Expo, something beautiful took place. What began as a small circle of six sisters blossomed into a vibrant crew of eighteen, ready to walk, pray, and reclaim their health together.

With shirts and swag in hand (thank you, National Team Member, ReNate! 🙌🏾), this crew stood tall, inviting others into the movement. Their love for community even stretched all the way to Fresno, California, where two new sisters joined their walks virtually—proof that when faith takes the lead, distance can’t divide us.

Their journey continues on October 21, as they gather again—GirlTREK blue shining bright—focusing their hearts on welcoming senior women into the fold. “It’s so important that senior adult women remain mobile and active,” Dr. Garvin shared. “We encourage one mile or less walks—just 30 minutes, five days a week. And if your walk is only half a mile total, that’s OK.”

This is what the movement looks like:

women linking arms across generations, making space for every pace, and choosing to keep leading by faith—one step, one sister, one walk at a time. 🌿💙

- Submitted by Dr. Margaret Garvin

In May 2023, after a powerful Women’s Retreat, GirlTREK Team Trinity was born—a sisterhood rooted in faith and committed to walking toward wholeness together. Since that day, more than 240 sisters from across Chicago and its suburbs have joined the movement, each one walking out their commitment to health and healing, right where they are.

Because they are spread throughout the city, Team Trinity Trekkers walk in their own neighborhoods—30 minutes a day, five days a week—a beautiful reminder that transformation begins on the blocks we call home.

Several times a year, a special call goes out through Trinity News, church announcements, and social media, inviting everyone to gather as First Lady Monica Moss leads a community walk at 39th Street Beach. Co-Crew Leaders & Coordinators Donna Brumfield, Natasha Bevans, Michelle Mallon, and Lyra Williams make sure no sister is left behind—from the opening prayer to the final steps of the 2.5-mile walk. They provide GirlTREK swag, water, and warm smiles, welcoming new sisters into the fold.

Now, the crew is preparing for a new season—transitioning Team Trinity into the GirlTREK App, where even more connection and possibility await. “We want GirlTREK Team Trinity to join our crew on the App because there are so many wonderful things being planned for the upcoming GirlTREK season,” shares First Lady Monica Moss, standing alongside Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III, pastor of Trinity.

In Chicago, faith is taking the lead—block by block, sister by sister—and this crew continues to keep leading by faith, walking boldly into a future filled with purpose, health, and hope. 🌿💙

- Submitted by Donna Brumfield

To feature your faith crew in an upcoming newsletter, share your testimony with us! Submit HERE.

Access previous months North Star Community Newsletters HERE.

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