Wear Orange Fundraising Drive!

For the last two years, I've devoted a good chunk of my life to volunteering with Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense, working to end gun violence in America. When I returned to the U.S. after our adventures overseas, I was shocked to realize I felt more exposed to the threat of gun violence here than I did living in Yemen or Israel. The shooting at the Clackamas Town Center, a few miles from my home, took place three days before the massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School. Those shootings paralyzed me. All I wanted to do was clutch my girls to me and never let them go. I was wrought with fear and despair for months afterwards, planning my exit strategy whenever I took my kids to a grocery store or a movie. Over time, as the media would report on yet another mass shooting, I grew increasingly aware of the daily toll of gun violence on families and communities across the country, of the over 90 people killed by guns every day in America in acts of suicide, domestic violence, and unintentional shootings as a result of irresponsible gun storage or handling. And I assumed this was the way it had to be, because in America the gun lobby was too powerful to oppose. 

I was wrong.

Since its founding four and a half years ago, in 2012, Moms Demand Action has changed the narrative around gun violence by raising awareness of the fact that America is confronting a gun-related epidemic, educating people about gun safety and advocating for better, stronger gun laws - including helping to pass universal background checks here in Oregon in 2015. This law, requiring all gun purchases – whether conducted at a gun dealer, online or at a gun show – be subject to a background check, is just one example of Moms' many legislative victories across the country.

For me, being a part of this movement has allowed me to fight back against the behemoth gun lobby - the same people who donated over $30 million to Trump's campaign. I’ve been privileged to do this work alongside survivors of gun violence, who courageously share their personal stories in the quest to help pass common-sense gun laws. I am no longer motivated by fear, but by a sense of outrage that the death of 93 Americans every day is deemed an acceptable price to pay to line the pockets of gun manufacturers and NRA A-rated politicians.

I do this work in honor of all the lives cut unnecessarily short by gun violence, and because if we are able to save even one life, to spare one family the unspeakable pain countless families have had to experience because of preventable tragedies, then it’s all worth it.

Please contribute whatever you can to this Wear Orange fundraising campaign. The money will go directly towards our 501(c)(3) work, including:

• The BeSMART program, which educates about preventing child deaths from gun violence; 
• The Everytown Survivor Network and Moms' Survivor Engagement work, which provide support and community for survivors of gun violence, and training for those who want to become leaders in the fight against gun violence; 
• Everytown’s groundbreaking, evidence-based research which provides a better understanding of the causes and solutions to the epidemic of American gun violence; 
• Our annual Wear Orange campaign, which raises awareness about gun violence and takes place on June 2, the birthday of Hadiya Pendleton, a Chicago teenager who was killed by gunfire when she was just 15. Wear Orange was inspired by her friends who decide to honor her life by wearing orange – the color hunters wear in the woods to keep themselves, and others, safe.