New Grassroots Gun Violence Prevention Group Grabs Headlines
The work of Grassroots4GVP volunteer Robin Neipp is highlighted in The Greenfield Recorder.
Orange hearts will adorn the Greenfield Common on June 7 to recognize Massachusetts shootings
Grassroots organizer Robin Neipp is joining volunteers on June 7 to cover the Greenfield Common with orange hearts representing each gun death in Massachusetts.
The efforts are part of an annual “Wear Orange” event that began in 2013 after 17-year-old Hadiya Pendleton was killed in a drive-by shooting. As a tribute, her friends decided to wear orange — the same color hunters wear to avoid being shot in the woods.
Wear Orange has since evolved into a national awareness day.
In Massachusetts, volunteers plan to paper the Common in Greenfield with at least 255 hearts to represent the average number of state residents killed by gunfire each year. Each will bear the name of someone killed by a gun.
“This is a day where it’s not about politics, it’s about the loss,” Neipp told The Greenfield Recorder in an article about the movement.
The Greenfield Recorder highlighted grassroots efforts by a new gun violence prevention group.
New group, new name
Since the story ran, the group has built momentum and unveiled its new name — Grassroots for Gun Violence Prevention, or Grassroots4GVP. Together, the founding team has more than 325 years of experience volunteering to end gun violence.
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