One Day One Step began in 2022 as the "Day of Repentance," an event aimed at bringing about community healing through prayer, repentance and forgiveness. The service was held at a church on Monument Avenue near where the Robert E. Lee statue had stood for 131 years. Following the death of George Floyd and subsequent unrest, the Robert E. Lee statue became a public gathering space for bringing awareness to general issues of race and equity. This statue had sat on land donated by a church and dedicated in a service led by a Presbyterian pastor in 1890. In an effort to seek peace and healing, a steering committee arranged the 2022 Day of Repentance during the anniversary month of the statue's removal. 

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Based on the responses and engagement to this event, the steering committee felt confident in the need to pursue an annual service of repentance. In 2023 the name was changed to "One Day, One Step."