Geoff Calkins

USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee

She slept through the gunshots, slept through the sirens, slept straight through until morning. But when Sandi Rogers woke up and read about the shooting at Billy Hardwick’s All-Star Lanes she had a single thought.

“We have to do something,” she said. “I wasn’t sure what it was. I don’t always think so well in the mornings. So I had some more coffee and it came to me.”

They would have a party.

A party with hot dogs and pizza and families.

A party with popcorn and children and laughter.

A party to bring together a neighborhood, support a local business and prove to themselves and the universe that violence isn’t as powerful as friendship and bowling.

“I just knew we had to do something to help,” said Rogers.

What if everyone thought like that?

What if everyone responded to bad news by creating a whole lot more good news?

That’s what happened at Billy Hardwick’s All-Star Lanes in East Memphis Friday, just 10 days after a shooting that left four people with non-critical injuries.

As it happens, the police arrested 18-year-old Justin Johnson Friday and charged him with being the gunman. But that certainly wasn’t the reason the Sea Isle Park Neighborhood Association decided to hold the bash.

“We wanted to support our local bowling alley,” said James Reed. “We wanted to show we aren’t going to live in fear.”

And if that required putting on bowling shoes and rolling some strikes and eating some freshly spun cotton candy, well, courage comes in various forms.

But it was something to see. It was the perfect community response. And it was deeply appreciated by Rebecca Hardwick, widow of Billy, who has run the place as a family business for 35 years.

“It was a rough time after it happened,” said Aaron Frasure, Rebecca’s son-in-law. “We haven’t ever had an incident before. We’ve never been robbed, nothing. But then this one thing happens, and you think, `Is that guy going to change what we have been doing here for 35 years?’ You can’t help but worry about that.”

Then the Hardwicks got a call from the community association, pitching the party idea.

“We were really touched by it,” Frasure said. “My wife started crying. This is a good city. There are a lot of good people here. We were wondering how do we move forward, and these people showed us how.”

Word spread throughout the Sea Isle Park Neighborhood. It seemed like everyone did something to pitch in.

Jeremy Wright, the senior pastor at Cherokee Baptist Church, brought along the church’s popcorn machine. Mike White of the Park Avenue Church of Christ brought a cotton candy spinner. Rusty Ramsey — a neighbor who said he’s been bowling at the lanes since the 1960s — brought a giant grill to cook hot dogs in the parking lot.

There were kids by the dozens. Ashley Hinton brought 14 — 14! — children from her homeschool community.

Oh, and a neighbor named Guy Price stopped by, even though he has had a heart transplant, and had never actually been at Billy Hardwick’s before.

“I just wanted to show my support,” he said.

Once again: What if everyone thought like that?

The Sea Isle Park Community called the event #TakeBackOurAlley. But #LiftUpOurAlley might have been even more accurate.

The gathering wasn’t angry, it was celebratory. It wasn’t defiant, it was fun.

So one knucklehead decided to carry a grudge way too far. Why does that have to ruin things for everyone?

“This isn't a one-time thing," Rogers said. “We’re going to do this again. We want to continue this. We’re going to do try and do it every three or four months.”

So bring your ball, your shoes, and your family to Billy Hardwick’s. And find that place in your own neighborhood that needs lifting up.

“I can’t describe what it has meant to us,” said Rebecca Hardwick. “Now we think we’re going to be all right.”