Kay Metzger, left, stands in silence with her daughters Kea Wormsley, center, and Tashya Taylor. The three Lawrence women were part of an event in South Park to pray for a better future for the world's children, grandchildren, and for several generations beyond them.

About 100 Lawrence residents stood silently in South Park at 1 p.m. Sunday.

After reciting a poem and ringing a bell, they stood in a circle, holding and hugging friends and family members nearby.

The 100 were standing symbolically with thousands of men, women and children around the world in hopes of improving the world of tomorrow, according to the Web site of the group Standing Women, which organized the event. Joey Sprague, a KU professor from Lawrence, was among the first local women to hear of the event, via an e-mail from a friend in Topeka.

“It’s phenomenal that this many people showed up. It just shows how many people care about switching the conversation from negative to positive,” Sprague said.

Sprague said that Mother’s Day started as a way for mothers to stand before the community and declare an end to war – to refuse to send their sons and daughters off to kill other sons and daughters.

“This is different from chocolates and flowers and having mom over for a barbecue,” Sprague said. “This event is about returning Mother’s Day to what it’s supposed to be about.”

The idea behind the event is also part of a book, “The Great Silent Grandmother,” in which two older women stand in a park day after day until they are joined by more than 2,000 women. A group of women in Ohio took the book and used it as inspiration for Sunday’s event.

Robin Gingerich, of Lawrence, came to South Park with her daughter, Sara Hazel, who was in town from Chicago for Mother’s Day.

“I heard about the event from an e-mail from Joey,” Gingerich said. “I thought this was a great way to give a voice to women.”

Gingerich is a member of Women Speak, a group affiliated with the Lawrence group One Hundred Good Women, which promoted the local Women Standing event. Women Speak is a diverse series of events intended to create dialogue about issues important to women, according to the Web site www.100goodwomen.org.

Hazel said that the Women Standing turned out to be much more exciting than she expected.

“I think it’s great,” she said. “It’s a really cool international thing. It’s cool to do that on a local level.

“I was just expecting it to be my mom and some of her hippie friends,” she joked.