BALTIMORE — In honor of National Gun Violence Awareness Day, local community organizations hosted healing gardens throughout Baltimore City on Saturday.
It's all part of the national Wear Orange weekend, a campaign aimed at bringing awareness to gun violence and honoring the lives of those affected by it.
Let's Thrive Baltimore hosted the event. It's the organization's fifth year of working with the community to curb violence and provide an outlet for young people.
Many of those in attendance have lost loved ones to gun violence, like Lisa Molock, who lost her goddaughter in a triple homicide. Molock is the executive director of Let's Thrive Baltimore; she hopes that events like these will help provide a chance for healing.
"So many of us lost our loved ones. Children have lost parents. Parents have lost children. So we think it's important that we never let anyone forget our loved ones were taken from us because someone decided to do a senseless act to pick up a gun and take their lives," said Molock.
As of reporting, the city authorities have reported 75 homicides for this year, an almost 40% decrease from last year's homicide numbers of 120 at the same time.
"It's a day of community. It's a celebration of life. We are honoring our loved ones. We don't want anyone to forget; we want to remember the good times that we had," Molock continued. "We want to have them in a space to express what they're going through but in a positive way instead of a negative or retaliatory way."
The event included a bounce house, food, music, and a healing circle for prayer.
