By Jeannine Strom Boyer
On International Day of Peace, Sept. 21, Lititz (Pa.) Church of the Brethren erected a Memorial to the Lost. This memorial displayed more than 90 t-shirts, each marked with the name, date of death, and age at death of a person killed by gun homicide in Lancaster County, Pa. This unique, visible education tool was developed by the organization Heeding God’s Call to End Gun Violence (Heeding) to honor murder victims of gun violence, their surviving family, and community.
Heeding is a not-for-profit, faith-based organization dedicated to working at the grassroots level to reduce gun violence in our communities and throughout the United States through education, advocacy, and commonsense gun laws. It is headquartered in Philadelphia and has a regional site in Lancaster County.
In addition to dedicating the memorial, people gathered at the peace pole in front of the church to pray and sing and to increase awareness of the issues of gun violence and its impact on all of us. Activities for action were available including adult legislative letter writing to support commonsense gun laws and children making pinwheels for peace.
The event was covered by many news sources including a front-page Lancaster Sunday News article and a television interview with pastor Jim Grossnickle-Batterton.
— Jeannine Strom Boyer is Outreach and Relationship Ministry coordinator for Lititz Church of the Brethren.
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