{"id":19718,"date":"2026-06-11T16:43:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T16:43:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=19718"},"modified":"2026-06-11T16:44:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T16:44:06","slug":"on-friday-toledoans-honor-national-gun-violence-awareness-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/11\/on-friday-toledoans-honor-national-gun-violence-awareness-day\/","title":{"rendered":"On Friday \u2013 Toledoans Honor National Gun Violence Awareness Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"By Fletcher Word<\/em>
\nThe Truth Editor<\/em><\/p>\n

June is National Gun Violence Awareness Month and the first Friday of the month (National Gun Violence Awareness Day) is the traditional kick off to the month.<\/p>\n

In Toledo, residents held a commemoration at the Peace and Healing Commons on Friday, June 5, to recognize the day as one of \u201chealing, hope and a commitment to building peace together,\u201d said Councilwoman Erin Kramer, the organizer of this year\u2019s ceremony. The various groups in attendance, said Kramer, plan to use the month to \u201cRecommit ourselves to building a safer Toledo for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

The day originated in memory of\u00a0Hadiya Pendleton<\/strong>, a 15-year-old Chicago student who was shot and killed on a playground just one week after performing in President Obama\u2019s second inaugural parade in 2013. Friends and advocates began wearing orange, the color hunters wear to protect themselves and others, to honor her life.<\/p>\n

The first official Wear Orange event took place on June 2, 2015, which would have been Hadiya\u2019s 18th birthday. Today, National Gun Violence Awareness Day marks the start of\u00a0Wear Orange Weekend<\/strong>, a nationwide series of events and activities.<\/p>\n

Among the groups represented on the Peace and Healing Commons at the first Friday event in the effort to raise awareness of gun violence were: Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America; Sisters for Unity; the Multifaith Coalition to Reduce Gun Violence; Save Our Community, along with City Council President Vanice Williams and Councilman George Sarantou.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\"\"\u201cI am a survivor,\u201d said Sherin Henley of Moms Demand Action. Henley lost her son when he was 20 years old and tried to prevent gun violence in his neighborhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an epidemic,\u201d said Henley of urban gun violence around the nation. \u201cThe point is to make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aviance Hill, one of the founders of Sisters for Unity, spoke of her organization\u2019s work with survivors and the partnerships they have created around the city to ensure that there are services provided for survivors of gun violence.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody is coming to save us,\u201d said Williams. \u201cNot the feds and not the state. As a community this is a call to action for the whole community and we have to save ourselves.\u201d Williams noted that the peak of homicides in 2021 was 70 for the city and now it has been cut in half, \u201cbut there is a long way to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rev. Meribah Mansfield, deacon at Trinity Episcopal Church, represented the Multifaith Coalition and spoke of the upcoming events in June, and the rest of the summer, that are designed to decrease gun violence. Those remaining events are:<\/p>\n

–\u00a0 Unwanted Firearms Disposal on Saturday, June 13, at Monroe Street United Methodist Church (safe way to dispose of unwanted firearms in a secure, drive-through setting);<\/p>\n

–Thursday, June 18, 5:30 p.m. Gun Violence Awareness panel at the
\ndowntown library, 325 N. Michigan St., featuring speakers about the
\nimpacts of gun violence and how to get involved to be a part of the
\nsolution. All are welcome.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Councilwoman Erin Kramer opens Gun Violence Awareness press conference<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

–Thursday, July 2, 2:00-6:00 p.m. *Cease Fire event at the Glass City Picnic
\nPavilion. This community barbeque is being planned by the City’s Save Our
\nCommunity team to encourage no shots fired for 48 hours after the event. It
\nis based on an event done in Baltimore, where shots decreased by 47% when
\nthey promoted the Cease Fire event.<\/p>\n

— June 16-August 5, 1:00-3:00 p.m. City pool barbeques *will be sponsored by
\nSave Our Community, with help from Ohio Moms Demand Action. To volunteer,
\ncontact Moms Demand Action Toledo Lead Donna Malone at
\ndonna.malone.oh@gmail.com<\/a>.
\nThe pool barbecues are:
\nJune 16th, 1pm – 3pm Willys Park
\nJuly 8th, 1pm – 3pm Pickford Park
\nJuly 10th, 1pm – 3pm Willys Park
\nJuly 13th, 1pm to 3pm Wilson Park
\nJuly 23rd, 1pm – 3pm Navarre Park
\nJuly 28th, 1pm – 3pm Roosevelt Park
\nAugust 5th, 1pm-3pm Jamie Farr<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Fletcher Word The Truth Editor June is National Gun Violence Awareness Month and the first Friday of the month (National Gun Violence Awareness Day) is the traditional kick off to the month. In Toledo, residents held a commemoration at the Peace and Healing Commons on Friday, June 5, to recognize the day as one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19720,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[250,17],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[351],"class_list":["post-19718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19718"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19723,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19718\/revisions\/19723"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19718"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=19718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}