On January 21st, 2013, Hadiya Pendleton, a high school student from the south side of Chicago, marched in President Obama’s 2nd inaugural parade in Washington, D.C. One week later, she was shot and killed on a playground near her school. Soon after this tragedy, Hadiya’s childhood friends decided to commemorate her life by wearing orange, the color hunters wear in the woods to protect themselves and others. On June 2nd, 2016, what would have been Hadiya’s 18th birthday, a broad‐based coalition launched the first National Gun Violence Awareness Day, and asked people nationwide to honor Hadiya’s life – plus the lives of the more than 90 Americans taken by gun violence every day and the hundreds more who are shot yet survive – by wearing orange. More than 200 noteworthy individuals and organizations, including President Obama, Julianne Moore, MTV, and Motown Records answered the call, taking to social media to show their support, and the #WearOrange message echoed globally, reaching over 220 million people in a single day.
This year, we’re reaching out and asking people, ones that believe we can do more to save American lives from gun violence, to support this program and our ongoing initiatives to reduce gun violence with a contribution. Can you help us reach our goal?