DALTON, Ga. — Angelia Painter says she has the place, the band and the speaker; now she needs the people.

Painter, of Dalton, began planning a Pray for Our Nation event after hearing about one held in Washington, D.C., earlier this year.

“I couldn’t quit thinking about it,” said Painter, a member of Emmaus Baptist Church in Whitfield County. “I was going to bed thinking about it, waking up thinking about it, and then God just laid it on my heart. ‘Just because that’s going on in Washington, D.C., that doesn’t mean you can’t be a part of it and do something here in Dalton.’”

The event is Saturday at 7 p.m. at the pavilion at Heritage Point Park in Dalton. The band is Rapha of McFarland Hill Baptist Church and the speaker is Benjamin Moore, assistant pastor of Emmaus Baptist Church.

Painter said she began talking to people at her church and a friend about wanting to plan the event this past winter.

“I just started praying on it,” Painter said. “And one day I was talking to my friend and telling her what I wanted to do and she gave me a blank check and said go rent whatever venue you can find that can host as many people as you can find and just let me know what you make the check out for. I was blown away, I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is really going to happen.’”

Organizing the event took several months but “Everything has just kept coming together. Every time I’ve needed something God has provided,” Painter said.

And she believes it is for a reason.

“This was on my heart back in the winter, and I just thought it was great how God comes into play with the right timing that he did with this event, with all that happened with the shootings and stuff,” Painter said. “I know that (today) they’re having a protest here in Dalton and everyone is wanting to protest everything and I just think it’s time for us to say, ‘Hey, quit protesting; quit hating. Let’s pray for our nation and let’s put peace back in it, because that’s what God wants us to do.’”

Painter was referring to the March for Justice being held today at 4 p.m. beginning at Harmon Field in Dalton and continuing to the Whitfield County Courthouse. The deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, two black men shot to death by police in Louisiana and Minnesota respectively, have resulted in protests in several cities across the nation against police brutality.

“If we move forward and do what God wants us to do, then things will change, the peace will come,” Painter said. “If we love everybody, then we’re doing what God asked us to do and I think all of the chaos will cut back and we can get back on track with where we need to be in our nation.”

The event is free and everyone is welcome. The Emmaus Baptist Church youth group will run the concession stand. The funds raised will be split to pay for the youth group’s winter trip and for school supplies to give to people living in the south end of the county surrounding the church.

“We just ask that people come out and come hungry and help us put God in some teen lives and supply the south end of Whitfield County with school supplies,” Painter said.