LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) – On Saturday, the organization Highways and Hedges set up a march against violence down Louisiana Avenue from Carmel Drive down back to the ministry church.

Highways and Hedges is a nonprofit organization built around faith in its march for hope to end violence in the community.

Hundreds of people were present and participated in the march. Highways and Hedges Lafayette director, Benjamin Rhodes, said this is a monumental moment for a community that has not seen anything like this before.

President of the organization, Montez Powell, said their mission is to help take the hate out of man’s heart.

“Our organization, it cleans man,” Powell said “This is how we take crime out of the streets. We deal with the issues in man’s heart. The root of it is sin.”

“It’s monumental,” Rhodes said. “Especially for the community of Lafayette, Louisiana because they have not seen something of this magnitude. You haven’t seen hundreds of people walking the streets saying ‘I have been converted, I have been changed’, and they actually live it.”

Rhodes emphasized this moment, saying it helps city officials and police with their efforts to ensure safety in the community as well.

“The police take crime off the streets. Highways and Hedges take crime out of the hearts of mankind,” Rhodes said. “That way we bring down the recidivism rate of our prison system. When we bring people into our organization, prison no longer becomes a revolving door. It becomes a door they came out of and the only reason they go back is to bring hope to those that are still there.”

Highways and Hedges takes pride in what they are doing and hope what they are doing can make a difference for others.